


The Bodyguard

by CrystallineX



Category: Bleach
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, F/M, Mild Sexual Content, Weapons
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2011-05-24
Updated: 2014-12-02
Packaged: 2017-10-19 18:06:18
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 24
Words: 125,053
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/203760
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CrystallineX/pseuds/CrystallineX
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Karin wants to attend a bodyguard academy, except there are two very small, miniscule problems. Her father won't allow her. And the school is only for boys. AU Karin-centric, will contain romance.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Mission 1

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer: Not mine. Kubo Tite's.

Disclaimer: Bleach belongs to Kubo Tite. I only own this plot.

A/N: I might reuse this setting later. Either as a story or as a movie, with completely different characters and therefore different plot. Until then, this'll just be a fanfic. =_=

…

**Prologue**

Karin wiped the blood from her forehead and her mouth twisted up into a grin. She looked at the man before her and said, "You really shouldn't have done that."

Standing up again, she spat out blood.

"You see, though I'm your bodyguard, we both know that I'm basically your babysitter. You're perfectly capable of defending yourself from any assassinations. What your father instructed me to do was to protect you from your worst enemy, even if I have to incapacitate you."

Straightening, he narrowed his eyes. "Oh? How touching, _kid_." He spat that last word out. "And just who is my worst enemy…?"

After a pause, Karin answered, "You."

She swayed, and faster than the blink of the eye, disappeared.

…

**The Bodyguard**

Mission 1

…

_4 years ago_

…

Brushing her bangs out of her dark blue eyes, Karin examined what she assumed would be her future passport. Currently the pieces of her future identity lay in disarray on the workbench. Looking over at her older friend as he devoured steaming ramen, she commented, "I would have thought you'd have finished making the passport by now. You aren't, so why did you call me here?"

Ignoring her and vacuuming the last bit of noodle and soup into his mouth, the man smacked his lips.

Karin sighed, "Oh lord. How old are you, Ikkaku?"

Making a face, the bald man replied, "Older than you. Last I recall, twice your age."

"Right, then act like a 28 year old."

Sucking on the wooden chopsticks, Madarame Ikkaku straddled the bench.

"Alright then, down to business."

Indicating the chopsticks in his mouth, Karin pointed out, "You _do_ know that those have been soaked in chemicals, right?"

Starting to shuffle through his papers whilst chewing vigorously on his chopsticks, Ikkaku grumbled, "Do me a favor and shut up, Kar."

Surprisingly, Karin did as she was told and stared silently but expectantly as Ikkaku shuffled through some of the papers spread before him. Gnawing on the disposable chopsticks a bit, Ikkaku hesitated before saying, "Usually, I'd be done by now… but there was just one thing I wanted to make sure with you before I actually finalized anything."

Mumbling to himself, Ikkaku continued the search for a certain paper. "Let's see… where did I put it… where… Aha!" Fishing out a paper, the corners of his mouth turned down as he indicated one section. "That said, I just wanted to show you what a big mistake you almost made."

Looking at the paper, Karin recognized the detailed information sheet on her new identity. Name, age, social security number, school and medical records… it was all there.

"What about it? I don't see any mistake."

Impatiently jabbing a finger at a specific section near the beginning, Ikkaku repeated, "You made one here. A _big_ one."

Briefly scanning the contents of the sheet, Karin informed him plainly, "There's no mistake."

Once again, Ikkaku insisted, "Yes, there is." Squinting exaggeratedly at one portion of the paper, he growled, "See, _here_. You've listed your gender as _male_."

Karin stayed silent for a brief moment, before she finally said, "It's not a mistake."

"Of all the mistakes to make – " Ikkaku blinked as her words registered with him. "Wait, what?"

Patiently, Karin repeated, "It's not a mistake."

Slowly, a frown appeared on Ikkaku's face. "That's not funny, Kar."

Puffing out her cheeks and exhaling slowly, Karin took out a folder from her messenger bag. Almost sheepishly, she held it out to a still disbelieving Ikkaku.

"Here's the background information you wanted."

Grabbing the folder from her, he shifted his incredulous gaze from Karin to the papers inside the folder. Furrowing his eyebrows, he read aloud (words muffled by the chopsticks he still had in his mouth), "Born in Australia to Daichi and Natsu Akimoto… Sent to an all-boys' boarding school in Japan starting from primary school…"

Mid-sentence, he looked up, spat the chopsticks out of his mouth and asked, "What the hell is this?"

Karin refused to look at Ikkaku as she muttered, "I pay you, and you get the job done, no questions asked. This is busine – "

"In normal circumstances, it would be just 'business,'" he spat out the word, "but this is just ridiculous!" Ikkaku snapped. "You demand a fake passport out of the blue, deliberately list yourself as male, bring some bullshit background info – what on earth are you up to?"

Karin crossed her arms and stubbornly looked away, and it dawned on Ikkaku. "This doesn't have anything to do with that blasted dream about becoming a bodyguard, does it?"

Her brief glance told him everything he needed to know.

Ikkaku leapt up to his feet, nearly upsetting all the papers on his workbench. "What? You're going to masquerade as a boy just to become a bodyguard? You can't be serious, Kurosaki Karin! There are so many holes in that plan!"

Karin flinched. Ikkaku only used her full name when he was really angry. But she jut her jaw out stubbornly and turned to face Ikkaku again. "I _am_ serious. So just get the paperwork done."

"Then what exactly is your reason for changing your legal gender into male? Women can become bodyguards too, you know. Why can't this 'Haru Akimoto' be female?"

"There's a certain school I want to go to."

Ikkaku slumped onto the bench again and put his head into his hands. "…An all-boys school…?"

"Yes. Specifically, The Academy."

Immediately, Ikkau leapt up to his feet again. " _What?_ Of _all_ the training academies, why _that_ place? Don't you have any idea how grueling the training is, not to mention the academics? Even _I_ dropped out after the probationary period!"

Karin said calmly, "I'm prepared for the physical hardships. So _just finish the paperwork._ "

Her tone left no room for argument, and without another word, she whipped around and left out the warehouse door.

A day later, Ikkaku called Karin again, claiming the paperwork finished. But not without some preparation to deter Karin. When she came into the warehouse, Ikkaku held out the passport and the relevant papers.

"Here's your new identity… _mister_ … Akimoto."

"Thanks, Ikkaku."

Karin stretched out a hand to take the lot, but at the last moment, Ikkaku snatched his hand back. Dark blue eyes flashing with annoyance, Karin snapped, "What? I didn't take you for one who'd care, but I paid you in advance. You shouldn't have any problems." Her face turned scornful. "Or do you want more money?"

Scowling, Ikkaku leaned forward and growled, "How many years have you known me, Kar? You of all people should know it's not about the money. It's about _you_. I am your friend, business or not, and the issue of you masquerading as a boy to enroll into _The Academy_ is more than slightly worrying."

Crossing her arms, Karin drew herself up and parried, "I'm taller than other fourteen-year-old boys."

Incensed, Ikkaku yelled, "That's not the point! You may be taller than boys your age _now_ , but in a few years, that'll all change! And what about the _other_ physical differences?" He motioned towards her chest area.

Gazing levelly at her friend, Karin replied, "I don't have much of a chest to begin with. If I develop, I can just bind it down."

Ikkaku continued to protest, "What about muscle mass? You may be well-built for a girl, what with you soccer activities and all, but you just can't keep up with the boys – "

Karin had been prepared for last minute protests, but any hint that girls weren't as good as boys rankled her. She said rather more heatedly, "Like I said before, _I'm prepared for physical hardships._ So give me the goddamn paperwork already!"

But Ikkaku had one last ace up his sleeve.

"Don't you know what your father would do to you?"

At this, Karin's temper flared.

"I _know_ what my father is capable of. That's why I needed your and Kenpachi's help."

Ikkaku's eyes widened and he nearly yelled, "Zaraki Kenpachi! You, the daughter of the CEO of Kurosaki Armament, associated yourself with Zaraki Kenpachi? Karin, the repercussions – "

Karin narrowed her eyes and said dangerously, "My name. Is Haru."

Sighing in a forcedly patient manner, Ikkaku then asked, "Well then, _Haru,_ do you _really_ plan on entering into The Academy?"

Closing her eyes, Karin replied, "You know me, Ikkaku. Yes, I do. I've been preparing this for 2 years."

Ikkaku considered getting angry at Karin for keeping secrets from her so long, but he too, had kept – was keeping – secrets from her. There was a heavy silence between them before Ikkaku enveloped Karin into a big bear hug.

"I know you're not my younger sister, but you're as good as, and it worries me, the way you're rushing into this. You're only 14 – "

Trying not to let the tears spill out of her blue eyes, Karin whispered, "All applicants are fourteen or fifteen. And I've wanted to be a bodyguard for so long. If I can't take over my father's business, I want a life in the field – but my father would never allow either. I'm making my own opportunity for the second choice is all."

Pulling back from the hug, Karin gently tugged Haru's – her – paperwork from Ikkaku's fingers.

Looking down, Karin said in low voice, "Thanks for everything. Once I'm settled in, I'll get in touch."

Trying her best to hide her overflowing emotions, Karin walked away from Ikkaku, her friend and father-figure.

Now that she had obtained her new identity, all Karin had left to do was to enroll into The Academy and leave the place that had steadily been strangling her since her mother's death.

Under the pretense that she couldn't find her phone, Karin casually asked to borrow Ichigo's phone. Without asking any questions, Ichigo handed it over to her.

She playfully saluted him. "Thanks Ichi-nii." Though he let her leave his room without comment, he gave her a sidelong glance as she walked away, as if he knew his younger sister was hiding something.

In her bathroom, where there weren't any listening devices or security cameras planted by her paranoid father, Karin made a quiet phone call.

"My name is Akimoto Haru, and I would like – "  
" – yes. The last four digits of my social security number are – "  
" – yes, I understand. Thank you. Good bye."

Karin let out a sigh of relief and slumped against the bathroom wall. She had enrolled, so she would leave that weekend. Whether she got accepted or not. The week couldn't end fast enough.

She went back to her older brother's room and tossed his cell phone to him, which he nimbly caught. He gave her an annoyed look. "Hey, this is expensive. What would you do if I didn't manage to catch it?"

Sitting down on his bed, Karin said sarcastically, "With your reflexes? I wouldn't be surprised if you could catch a bullet."

Ichigo snorted at that.

Karin continued, "Besides, we have an old man who is _filthy rich._ _"_ She said the last part sourly. " _He_ can pay for a new one."

"I earn my own money." Ichigo reminded her pointedly. Karin shrugged her acknowledgment. It was true, he did juggle a part time job with his university coursework. She knew as well as Ichigo did that he hated to use money earned by their CEO father. But Ichigo would inherit the company. He would _have_ to get used to being treated differently.

"Well, I gotta do the math assignment from Ochi-sen…" Karin made to get up from the bed. But before she could, Ichigo asked Karin, "Is there anything bothering you?" Karin froze. She looked at her older brother, but he kept his eyes carefully glued to his economics essay on his desk.

Regaining the ability to move, Karin stood up and dusted herself off. She said quietly, "Nothing. Just the usual." Karin left Ichigo's room.

Ichigo sighed. He lay on his bed, his feet at the headboard.

Karin had always been bothered by their excessive wealth. Time to time, following a particularly distressing outcome resulting from that unwanted wealth, that resentment exploded. But it had never manifested in such a subtle manner as this.

After she had returned late afternoon yesterday, Karin had been acting a little off from her normal self. It was barely detectable. To anybody else, she wouldn't seem any different. But he wasn't 'anybody else.' He was her older brother, and to his eye, she was definitely acting strangely. She looked almost… furtive. As if she was preparing for something.

But just what she was preparing for, he didn't know.

The next few days, it took Karin an enormous amount of effort to act normally around her siblings and the mansion's hired workers. But that was what she had to do the rest of her life; keep secrets from everyone. So Karin went out a lot more than usual, ditching the people spying on her and finishing the last minute preparations for her new life. She got a new cellphone under her alias, and new clothes to match.

Finally, Friday night came.

As soon as the clock struck twelve and it became Saturday, Karin got ready.

First things first, she would have to take care of the security camera in her room.

Though she'd turned off the lights, Karin knew that the whole mansion was equipped with high-tech night-vision security cameras. She'd studied the cameras thoroughly, including their brand and anatomies, and worked out how to take them apart. She even knew how to loop them so the monitor would play the same thing over and over again. But she had to have a special device to hack and mess with the security monitors for that, and she didn't. So she would have to settle with disabling it.

Tongue between her teeth in concentration, Karin first went into the camera's blind spot and slowly used a dark paper to obscure the lens' vision. She cautiously detached the camera from where it had been installed. Then she produced a mini screwdriver and disabled the camera inside. After restoring the camera back at its usual place, she hastily threw a suitcase together and pulled off the wig of long hair, revealing a boy-cut.

Karin couldn't afford to mess up; coming up with this plan had taken a hell's worth of time, effort, and preparation. If she didn't execute this plan properly, two years' worth of painstaking preparation would all go to waste.

She could just leave, but she wanted to say goodbye to her siblings. It posed a risk to her meticulously formulated plan, but she couldn't leave without saying goodbye.

Panther-like, Karin crept down the long hallway, staying in the security cameras' blind spots.

The first room she reached was her brother's. Per usual, his door was wide open. Seeing his orange hair at the footboard, Karin grinned despite herself. He had fallen asleep on the wrong side of the bed again.

The security camera in his room didn't allow her to enter the room. Swallowing the sudden painful lump that rose in her throat, Karin murmured, "Bye, Ichi-nii. You won't get into any trouble without me, right?" After all, he still had her twin to look after him.

The next, and last, door she would stop by was her twin, Yuzu's. Yuzu had requested to not have a security camera installed in her room, for some reason. She probably wanted privacy, without having to worry about the various peoples in the security room. Their father had acquiesced, on account of Yuzu having proven herself to be deadlier than ten intruders wielding AK-47 guns, what with the numerous martial arts under her belt.

Creeping into Yuzu's room, Karin looked down fondly at her twin, who lay fast asleep. Who would've thought that such a sweet and round face belonged to a black-belter in karate, aikido, and tae-kwon-do? Biting back a longing to reach out a hand to stroke her twin's hair, Karin whispered, "Goodbye, Yuzu. Try not to be a crybaby. I'm not going to be here at your side anymore."

As if Yuzu had heard her, she frowned in her sleep, her hand bunching the blanket as she clutched it to herself.

Before her heart could weaken any more, Karin spun on her heel and left the mansion, without even sparing a glance at her father's door.

Karin had booked a room in a motel, under her alias _Akimoto Haru,_ as a boy _._ The motelier hadn't so much as looked at her; they got runaways all the time. She figured that her father wouldn't expect her to room at a motel, not to mention he didn't even know her new identity – neither name nor gender-wise. He would probably think that she had gone to a five-star hotel, with his extravagant tendencies.

Her father had no way to trace her.

Not through her bank accounts; she'd saved up money the past two years in a different account made online under her alias.

Nor through her cell phone. She had thrown the one that she had previously used under the name 'Kurosaki Karin' in the dumpster on the way out of the mansion.

Nor through her looks. Karin had made sure to change her wardrobe thoroughly – like a boy's for one – purchased brown contacts to hide her blue eyes, and cut her hair short in the bathroom and covered it up with a wig that had imitated her real hair to the tee before she'd left. She'd made sure to take that wig out with her; she couldn't risk leaving it behind and have them suspect that she'd changed her hair style. Besides, she might need it later. It would put her in a difficult situation if it were to be found, but she had to take the risk.

Karin flopped down on the rather uncomfortable bed that the motel provided. It was scratchy compared to the one she had at home. She had really been spoiled, she thought.

Karin knew her plan was far from foolproof – her father had set many spies on her, because she was going through her rebellious stage. He'd done the same for Ichigo. Ichigo had warned her, and given her tips on avoiding them. Apparently he'd even dressed in drag to get away from them. Karin didn't want to imagine her brother in drag. Though putting on a wig was a good idea for him, as his orange hair stuck out like a tiger among antelope. Going to the lengths to even dress in drag had probably driven Ichigo's pride off a huge cliff.

Karin's eyelids were starting to get heavy, and she succumbed to sleep.

When she awoke the next day, Karin briefly didn't remember where she was, and was puzzled by her surroundings. But one look around and she remembered that she had finally executed her plan. Done the deed.

Karin glanced down at her wrist to look at her nonexistent watch, when she realized she had thrown that away as well. She had thrown away all electronic devices on her person. Sighing, Karin realized that she would have to get a new one.

Instead, she looked at the digital clock on the bedside table. It read 8 o'clock exactly. Though she no longer had an alarm, apparently her body had gotten into the habit of waking up at the usual 8 o'clock, which was when she usually had woken back at the mansion. She would probably have to wake up earlier once she got to The Academy. Though the more sloth part of her said that she should sleep while she still could, the more sensible part of her knew that she should practice waking earlier.

Karin left her suitcase at the motel and headed towards the nearest department store, to buy herself a few necessities that she hadn't thought of in the few days after she had received her new identity.

A new watch, some writing material, a few more articles of clothing, and heaven forbid, boxers. She probably wouldn't need the extra clothing, as the school probably distributed uniforms to all entrants, but it wouldn't hurt to be prepared.

After she had picked up all the bare necessities, she headed back towards the motel room.

Maybe her father's paranoia had rubbed off on her, but she became wary of everybody around her wearing blue-tooth headsets and looked at her. And every girl who tried to pick her up.

A week had passed when she finally received word from The Academy, late at night.

" _Congratulations, your records have been approved. Like all other freshmen, you will go through a year of probation, and if you pass both academically and physically, you will be able to go onto the next year."_

Karin fought the urge to fist-pump. The woman's voice continued, _"Coordinates of The Academy will shortly be sent to your cell phone. You will receive further instructions once you arrive. You have until tomorrow noon to get here, or your spot will be filled by another applicant. Good luck."_

Karin was confused by the last phrase.

"Good luck? What does she mean by that?"

She looked at her new wristwatch and saw that the call had taken place at exactly 1 o'clock in the morning. They must be really intense, if they called you this early. She guessed that if she hadn't picked up within two rings, the school would have immediately dropped her.

Her cell phone buzzed. The message must have arrived. Karin flipped open her phone and was slightly confused. These weren't coordinates. They were equations, and long ones.

Then she realized what the 'good luck' had meant when she looked at the image sent to her phone. Getting to The Academy was a preliminary test in itself. If you didn't know how to do calculus and combinatorics and read the resulting coordinates, you had no right to attend The Academy.

The Academy, which would probably be located far away from cities, would probably take a long time to go to, with very few ways to get there. And she only had until noon tomorrow. This was almost as intense as the Amazing Race.

Sighing, Karin splashed some water on her face to wake her up and set to work on the math.

An hour later – she was rather rusty on her math – Karin had her coordinates, and saw that she had been right. The Academy was located somewhere in Shizuoka, one of the least populated areas in Japan, roughly three hours away, by Shinkansen.

Trust The Academy to be situated in a place very convenient for shooting guns without bothering anybody. Also convenient for harsh training for aspiring bodyguards, complete with corporal punishment. Hopefully the corporal punishment wouldn't require stripping. That would be a dead giveaway for her true gender. And that was a serious understatement.

Karin figured that she could sleep on the way to Shizuoka. She quickly threw her clothes and wig into her suitcase, and headed towards the nearest shinkansen station.

Once Karin arrived at the station, she purchased a ticket that stopped by Shizuoka, the location of The Academy.

Karin gave one last look around at Tokyo, her hometown.

She wasn't sure if she would miss it, but three years was a long time.

And she stepped foot into the train.

Three hours later, Karin was disembarking the train, sleepily wiping her drool off her mouth.

Suppressing a yawn, she read the address she had gotten from the coordinates. Though it was against her creed to ask for directions, as of now, Karin was too tired not to.

A small, kind-looking old lady overheard Karin asking the lone security guard (who looked like he wanted to be here as much as he wanted to have all his teeth pulled out) ask about where the address was.

"Oh? You're an Entrant for The Academy, young lad?"

Karin nodded, relieved that someone knew. She had half-expected even the villagers to not know of it, as its location was so secretive.

The old lady chuckled. "It's located right next to my plot of land. I can take you there, if you like."

Karin's face broke out into a grin.

"Mind you, it's only because you're so good looking." The granny joked.

Karin stared at the horse-driven cart. She hadn't known that these still existed, apart from major tourist attractions, like New York or Rome.

Nevertheless, she climbed into the cart, grateful for the ride. She checked her watch.

It was nearing 8 o'clock.

After about an hour and a half of being jostled and bumped on the hard wooden surface of the cart, Karin found herself about to drift off to sleep when they came to an abrupt stop.

Karin blinked owlishly at the old lady, who was peering at her. She said groggily, "Have we arrived?"

When the granny nodded, Karin jumped out of the cart, less than nimble because of her dead-tired state. With some difficulty, she unloaded her suitcase as well.

Before Karin was a great big rice paddy. Surprised, she turned to the old lady. "You own a rice field?"

The granny chuckled. "Well, now it technically belongs to my granddaughter. I'm trying to vie for a grandson-in-law at that place where she works." She gave Karin a sly look. "You don't look that much younger than her, young lad."

Karin didn't really much fancy becoming _anybody's_ grandson-in-law and tried to laugh it off as a joke. "My name is Akimoto Haru. May I ask for your name, grandmother? I want to repay this favor…"

Smiling, the old lady said, "Hinamori Chiyo. Haru… Spring… that's a nice name. I should introduce you to my granddaughter. She works at The Academy, as a secretary."

Karin jolted and checked her watch. It was almost 10 o'clock. "Speaking of The Academy… Where is it? You said that it was next to your land…"

The granny grinned toothily and pointed in the distance.

It was huge, but Karin could tell it was far.

Not wanting to impose any longer on the elderly lady, Karin bowed and said, "Thank you for taking me this far, Grandmother Chiyo. I can walk the rest of the way."

The grandmother nodded. "I see. Well, it takes considerably less than two hours to get there. Why, my Momo goes there by foot every day."

Karin wasn't so surprised that the old lady knew that she had to get there by noon.

"I shan't detain you any longer, Haru-kun." She waved Karin off.

After what seemed like an eternity of walking, Karin was finally before the huge gate of The Academy.

Someone who looked like a security officer stood there. Karin approached him, and immediately, he said. "Akimoto, correct?"

Karin nodded.

"Good, you're an hour, twenty-five minutes, and thirty-two seconds early. Two bonus points for you."

' _Points?'_ Karin thought, but knew better than to ask. The man before her looked scary. Almost as scary as Zaraki Kenpachi, and that was saying something. He opened the gate for her and said, "Go to the main hall and await further instructions there."

Karin inclined her head and entered straight ahead.

Soon enough she saw a large desk, with two women sitting behind it. Karin saw one who had a nametag 'Hinamori Momo' printed on it, and she was about to talk to her about how Grandmother Chiyo had helped her when the other secretary, whose nametag read 'Ise Nanao' looked at her.

"Name?"

Her voice sounded familiar, and Karin realized that she was the one who had called Karin over the phone with the instructions.

"Akimoto Haru."

Pushing the bridge of her glasses up her nose, the secretary peered near-sightedly at Karin. "Have I seen you before?"

Hiding her nervousness, Karin laughed and said, "Yeah, I get that a lot. My face is really generic, isn't it?"

Actually, it was far from that fact. Karin's face was an exotic mix of Asian and Caucasian. Knowing that blue eyes and Asian faces didn't mix well together, Karin had worn dark brown contact lenses. Karin had been famous for being her father's daughter, as well as being an almost rebelliously intelligent child. Characterized by blue eyes that she had inherited from her mother, Karin realized that her eye color was one of the things that she would have to hide.

Nanao scanned the list on her computer and found the name 'Akimoto Haru.'

She gave Karin the key to her room, as well as a map of the whole of The Academy (in small-scale coordinates, again). Thanking her, Karin wandered off.

First, Karin examined the key, which read 1408. That was ominous. Next, she scanned unnecessarily complex map of the place, and Karin thought grimly, _'This is no joke.'_

With some trouble, Karin finally found Room 1408, bizarrely located on the 18th floor. She fumbled with the key to unlock the door. Once she had opened the door, she found a rectangular room bare except for a window and a narrow, flat bed in the corner. It was a terribly depressing room, and Karin found herself thinking longingly of her own room back at the mansion, with posters of Mia Hamm, Lionel Messi, David Beckham and Tele plastered all over her walls.

This room only needed shackles to be equivalent to a prison cell.

Shoving her suitcase into the room, Karin looked around and saw there was a connecting room to hers through a short hallway with what she assumed was the bathroom. There was no door.

Karin had been prepared for this, but her heart pounded as it really hit her that she would have to share a living space, as well as a bathroom, with a boy.

She peeked into the room, and immediately gaped. If she had thought that _she_ was messy, she was positively OCD compared to _this._ Clothes were strewn everywhere, as if the occupant considered the whole floor his closet. As she looked at the horror of a room, she wondered what sort of pig lived there.

As if to answer her question, a boy emerged from the bathroom, looking as if he'd just finished taking a shower, judging from the warm steam that washed over Karin. His rather long red hair was also sopping, and he wore nothing save towels around his waist and shoulders.

The boy, who was a few inches taller than her, spotted her immediately. "Oh! You must be my new suitemate." He grinned and held out a hand.

"Hey, I'm Renji. Abarai Renji."

Shaking his hand, Karin said stiffly. "Hello, Abarai-san."

Renji laughed. "No need to be so formal. No Senpai stuff either. Just call me Renji. You're Haru, right?"

Karin relaxed minimally as she nodded. Maybe this guy wouldn't be as bad as she thought. Motioning towards his red hair, she asked, "Is that natural?"

"Oh, my hair? Yeah, it is." He looked regretfully at it. "The first year I was here, they thought I'd dyed it, and forced me to dye it black. But when they saw my roots and my pubes were red, they realized that it was natural, and they gave up on trying to make me dye it."

Not noticing Karin's disgusted face at his casual mention of pubic hair, he continued, "Think they figured that they could spend the money for dye somewhere else, like weapons."

Once she got over her disgust, Karin found herself nodding understandingly. "My older brother is the same way. His hair is naturally orange, but everybody thinks he bleaches it."

Renji paused in the process of vigorously towel drying his hair.

"Orange hair? What's your brother's name?"

Karin realized immediately she had made a mistake. She desperately made up a name on the spot. "T… *Tamago."

Renji looked horrified at that travesty of a name. " _Tamago?_ As in _egg_?"

Inwardly, Karin grimaced. Why couldn't she have thought of a better name? To her relief, Renji grinned at her.

"For a moment, I thought you were talking about Kurosaki Ichigo."

Karin pretended to busily start unpacking her suitcase, zipping it open, then hastily zipping it back up. She had forgotten that the wig was on top of everything.

Clearing her throat, thinking it safer to feign ignorance about her brother, Karin asked, "Ichigo? Who's that?"

Looking rather surprised, Renji said, "You came here to become a bodyguard without even knowing the son of the CEO of the biggest weapon production corporations?"

"Oh. I thought his surname sounded familiar."

Without a care, Renji sat on the edge of her bed, dripping water all over it, Karin noticed with annoyance. Did males not have any sense of personal space?

"Well, I suppose only hardcore fans would know. Kurosaki Ichigo has orange hair, just like your brother."

"Why would you think Kurosaki Ichigo is my older brother? Our surnames are different, for one." She pointed out.

Renji shrugged. "Well, who knows, Kurosaki Isshin might have an illegitimate child."

Unknowingly, Karin clenched her fists. Her father may be many things, but unfaithful to her mother was not one of them. She struggled to calm herself.

Unaware of Karin's anger, Renji said dreamily, "And man, those Kurosaki twins are _hot_."

Taken aback, Karin forgot completely about the offensive claim against her father.

"Yuzu's cute, but that Karin… her futsal skills are magnificent. She could even play for the national team. Though she'll probably go into soccer. She doesn't have much of a chest, but the rest of her bod is real nice. All lean muscle, ya know?"

Karin was suddenly very, very glad that her short-cropped hair and lack of eyeliner made her look completely different. She would probably have to bulk up, too.

"Uhh… She's only fourteen…" Karin hedged.

Renji raised an eyebrow. "Oh? You don't know of Ichigo, but you know of Karin?"

Karin started sweating. She was making an awful lot of mistakes, and it was only her first day…

Thankfully, Renji's conclusions were way off the mark. "So you're a fan of hers too eh?"

Karin praised God that she had such a dense suitemate.

"She's fourteen, but I'm only sixteen, so it's not criminal, is it? It would be a different matter if I were an old man though." He looked slightly disturbed at the thought. Karin had to fight back a gag at that.

"Well, I'll let you unpack, then." Renji jumped off of her bed, leaving a large wet patch where he had sat.

"Whoops. Sorry." Renji apologized without sounding sorry at all. As he crossed into his own room, Karin briefly saw zigzag wing tattoos under his red hair on his back.

Though Renji had left, she still heard him rustling about in his own room. Though she wasn't comfortable with such an open space between their rooms, Karin begin to unpack items from her suitcase, first of all shoving that accursed wig as far under the bed she could.

And so Karin's life at The Academy started.

…

_**Character Profiles** _

**Name: Kurosaki Karin**  
Alias: Akimoto Haru  
Age: 14 years  
Height: 5'6"/168cm (still growing)  
Birthdate: May 6th  
Bust–Waist–Hip measurements: N/A–27"–34"  
Favorite food: too many to list  
Least favorite food: Purple sweet potatoes  
Favorite sport: Soccer/Football

 **Name: Abarai Renji**  
Age: 16 years  
Height: 5'8"/173cm (still growing)  
Birthdate: August 31st  
Favorite food: Star Candy  
Least favorite food: Cabbages  
Favorite sport: Futsal

 **Name: Madarame Ikkaku**  
Age: 28 years  
Height: 6'/180cm (fully grown)  
Birthdate: November 9th  
Favorite food: Onigiri(rice balls)  
Least favorite food: All vegetables  
Favorite sport: Kendo

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> These statistics are in no way canon (all random), except for Ikkaku's height. And maybe the Star Candy was inspired by an episode depicting Renji's young days.
> 
> And yes, I meant the irony of Ikkaku protesting against Kenpachi. (Because in the Bleach canon, he says he'll die under Kenpachi's command.)
> 
> And no, this does not mean Renji and Karin pairing. KarinxAnybody will come waaaaay later in the storyline. She's only 14, for goodness' sake! (hypocritical, I know, because Fallen Souls paired her up when she was 14 anyway, but this story is different!)


	2. Mission 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: Not Mine. Kubo Tite's.

**The Bodyguard**

Mission 2

…

The man chanced a glance at the back of the bar, to see the young man – no, teenaged boy – still standing there, on guard. His hard brown eyes were staring at him, as well as the whole perimeter of the bar.

Didn't he ever go to the bathroom? Oh, right. The _boy_ followed him even into the bathroom, though truthfully, he'd never seen the kid take a leak. He even followed him into strip clubs, though his face expression plainly conveyed how distasteful he found it.

 _'Hmph. What a stale guy.'_ Well, he took that back. There was that one time…

Abruptly, he turned back and slammed his tankard down.

"Bartender! Another stiff!"

…

 _4 years ago_

…

"Mighty good morning, ain't it Haru?"

Karin pretended she didn't hear anything and buried her head as deeply as possible into the flat pillow.

"Rise and shine, sunshine~!"

Still Karin ignored him. She hadn't gotten much sleep yesterday, with all that traveling she did.

"Wakey, wakey, eggs and backey!"

No response. Whatsoever. Renji finally lost his patience.

"OI! I'm telling you to _effing_ wake up already!"

That was more like it. But Karin still ignored him. She didn't want to get out of this warm bed, no matter how hard the surface was.

Finally, Renji just pulled off Karin's sheets, and immediately the cold air hit her skin, chasing away any sleep she had been barely gripping onto. Sitting up, her blue eyes blazed with anger at Renji. "HEY! I was trying to _sleep_! What the hell is wrong with you?" She yelled hoarsely.

Furiously, she tried to grab the sheets back from Renji, which wasn't very difficult, as Renji was staring at Karin's figure, clad in boxers and a shirt.

"You're… skinny."

Too incensed to be worried about being discovered, Karin rolled her eyes and collapsed back onto bed, pulling the sheets over her as she did. In a muffled voice, she said, "Tell me something I don't know."

Remembering what he had come for, Renji dragged her out of bed again. "I'm telling you, _get up_!" He hissed. "It's five minutes before six!"

Karin groaned. "Is six when you have to wake up?"

"NO! It's technically five-thirty, but I called in a favor just to cover your sorry ass for thirty minutes, now _get up!_ "

He sounded so desperate that Karin wasn't quite heartless enough to ignore him.

"Alright alright. I'm up already." Rubbing her eyes, she stumbled to her feet and started to head to the bathroom, but Renji pulled the collar of her shirt before she was able to take even a few steps.

First she was unwillingly and (what she considered) brutally awakened, and now she was being choked? Whirling angrily, Karin was just about to give Renji a piece of her mind when she saw the doorknob turn.

The door swung open and a pale man with black hair stood there. Renji saw where Karin was looking and abruptly let go of her collar.

"Is there a problem, Abarai?"

Renji saluted the pale man. "No, Preceptor Cifer. Haru's up now."

Preceptor Cifer's face was inscrutable as he stared at Karin. He shifted his eyes to Renji and said, "Abarai, I believe my debt to you is paid back with this incident. Do not let it happen again, or next time I'll take the customary ten points off of each of you for allowing the other to oversleep."

He turned on his heel and left.

Aghast, Karin looked at Renji. "We're checked _every morning_ at five-thirty?"

Crossing his arms, Renji corrected, "Once a _month_ once the semester starts. But until then, every day." He pulled a face. "It's like they think we'll get lazy over break."

Karin was about to ask, "When does – "

"The semester starts tomorrow." Leaning in close so they were nose to nose, Renji snarled, "And _don't_ let it happen again, Akimoto." He turned and headed towards his own room. "Breakfast is at seven."

Heading into the bathroom, Karin brushed her teeth and took a brief shower. She figured it would raise suspicion if she used the bathroom for too long. For all she knew, The Academy could be as anal as to check the water bills of every room. Last but most important of all, she put in her colored contacts. She would have to wake up earlier than Renji did from now on, if she wanted to put them in.

Come ten minutes before 7 o'clock, Karin trotted after her suitemate down eighteen flights to where all the meals were held. Karin was righteously annoyed. "They don't even have elevators here?"

Renji snorted. "They only have ones around the staff room. Bastards."

Once they arrived at the mess hall, Karin was surprised by the variety of food there. It was a buffet; the only things missing were the unhealthy foods and dessert.

She followed Renji's suit and grabbed a tray. Uncertainly, she asked him, "Are you sure this is free of charge?"

Grabbing a large lump of chicken breast, Renji snorted. "If you pass the probationary period, yes, it is. But if you're kicked out, then you have to pay every penny back, with interest. Every crumb you eat, every bullet you shoot." He also heaped plenty of duck onto his plate right beside the chicken. "Oh, and I almost forgot. Your uniform. _That'll_ be a good chunk of money. Thank God I passed the probationary period."

Taking a noticeably smaller chunk of chicken breast, Karin gulped. When she had been under her father's wing, paying for all that would have been small change, but on her own, that would be a lifelong debt. Hastily changing the subject, she piled in a bunch of fruit into her tray and asked, "Speaking of uniforms, when are they going to be distributed?"

"Today afternoon. That's when the probationers' orientation is." Renji said simply, taking an apple for himself. "They'll hand you the uniforms according SML system." As he took a huge bite out of the apple (which matched his hair color perfectly) he gave her a brief once-over and added, "You may be a few inches taller than the average kid your age, but you're so skinny I figure your size will be small. You just won't need to have your pant legs tailored to fit you."

He led Karin to a table already filled with rowdy boys, all around his age. Upon closer look, there were only six boys, though it seemed like much more; they were making so much noise.

A boy with shoulder-length black hair combed back flicked a pea at Renji with a spoon, who avoided it. Consequently, the pea flew to hit a random blonde boy behind him who glanced back, annoyed. The peashooter asked Renji, "Wassup, man?"

Instead of telling him off for shooting a pea at him in the first place, Renji grinned and clapped the peashooter on the shoulder. Waving in apology to the blonde kid, Renji turned back to the peashooter. "Didn't see you all break, Ginjou! I was beginning to think your dad had you under house arrest. How're things back home?"

Ginjou gave a mock world-weary sigh and replied, "Same old, same old. Old man yapping on about how I should kick away this 'bodyguard business' and carry on the family business. Said it was too bad that I didn't fail the probationary term."

Another boy yelled, "Hey! Aren't you going to welcome me back, Renji?" His left eyebrow was partially missing.

A brown haired boy yelled, "Yo~ Renji, catch! Carbs!" A small roll of bread came flying towards them. But it missed Renji by a mile and Karin calmly caught it instead, before it soared over her shoulder towards the blonde boy's head once again.

"Apparently throwing food is a common greeting here." She said coolly, taking a bite out of the roll. It was sourdough.

"Who's New Face over there?" A boy with a mohawk nodded towards Karin.

Hooking an arm around Karin's neck, Renji grinned, "Oh. How rude of me. Boys, let me introduce Akimoto Haru, my new suitemate." He grinned cheekily. "Or rather, my new 'suitie.'" The boys snickered at this.

Karin was confused at this. Shoving off Renji's arm and hitting him with the bitten roll of bread, Karin said indignantly, "I am _not_ your sweetie! I didn't know you swung that way!"

The five boys, including Renji, burst out into laughter.

"And now, _that_ , was a beautiful reaction." said a rather pretty boy with black hair curling around his face, and three purple stars tattooed over his left eyebrow.

"Most people are creeped out and edge away, but Akimoto got angry!" jeered the boy with the mohawk.

The boy with a half missing left eyebrow laughed, "He just questioned your masculinity, Renji!"

"How are you going to get him back for that?"

Wiping a tear of mirth from his eye, the boy who had thrown the roll of bread calmed down long enough to introduce himself. "I'm Asano Keigo." He offered the seat beside him, while Renji sat down beside Ginjou.

The boy with the half-shaven eyebrow raised his hand and volunteered, "I'm Shiba Ganju. Nice ta meet ya."

The boy with a mohawk said, "I'm Shishigawara."

"Shishigawara Moe Moe, you mean~" said another boy teasingly. (*Moe is often used to refer to cute anime girls)

Shishigawara Moe's ears turned red and he shouted, "Shut up! And this bastard," He pointed towards the boy who had just teased him, "is Kojima Mizuiro, a complete playboy."

There was a complete silence after that proclamation. Karin looked on, unimpressed. "And…?" Moe's ears turned even redder, and he shut his mouth; he had nothing to reply to that.

The pretty boy said, "The 'playboy' is a turn-off that only works on select girls, Moe. Usually, boys admire or envy men who can ensnare hot women." He waved to Karin and added, "I'm Luppi Antenor, by the way. My surname is Antenor, so just call me Luppi."

Lazily, Ginjou sucked on a spoon (the one he had used to flick the pea at Renji). "You've probably already heard, but my name is Ginjou Kuugo. Call me Ginjou. Welcome to The Academy, or 'The Jungle,' as it's commonly referred to among the students." Ginjou slung an arm over Renji's shoulder and said, "And we all know of Renji's undying love for Kurosaki Karin! Therefore, he has to be straight!"

Karin fought to keep a straight face. Cheeks rather red, in a flash, Renji had Ginjou in a headlock. "What was that? Hmm?"

A sly voice drawled in a distinct Kyoto dialect, "Ahh~ kids shouldn't play so roughly with each other. Right?" His slitted eyes gave Karin the impression of a fox, or a rather smiley snake.

Immediately the boys were munching on carrots, crunching at cucumbers, and gnawing at chicken bones. "Indeed, Preceptor Ichimaru." Renji replied mechanically, a little _too_ interested at the chicken bone in his hands.

The silver–haired man took a grape from Keigo's tray and popped it into his mouth, giving them one last sly grin before he sauntered off.

Every last one of the boys was sweating after this encounter, and the rest of the meal was silent. That is, until Karin turned to Keigo and asked, "Why were you guys laughing earlier?" which brought on another bout of laughter.

After about thirty minutes of bantering, they were interrupted again by the silver-haired preceptor. He stood in a booth and clapped his hands. "Freshmen, ya'll can meet back here at the mess hall at two o'clock for th' orientation. Sound fair?" Though the only response he received were wide eyes, his smile widened and he nimbly jumped off the platform.

"So we're free until two?" Karin asked as they walked down a random hallway on the second floor, pondering what she should do until then.

Ginjou corrected smugly, "No, _you're_ free until two. _We,_ on the other hand, are free for the whole day."

Already, Karin felt comfortable enough with Ginjou to take a playful swipe at him, which he easily dodged.

"Oho… So your true personality is coming out, then?" Ginjou grinned. "You'll have to be a lot faster than that if you want to hit me."

Taking this as a challenge, Karin bet, "You're on. If I get fast enough to hit you within a month, you'll have to…" She wondered what she would bet on.

Renji provided on her behalf, "Switch rooms for a week."

When he saw Karin's quizzical look, Renji explained, "He has the nicest room out of all of us, on account of his suitemate being the heir to Ammo Co."

Karin took in a sharp breath when she heard the name 'Ammo Co.' The biggest rival to Kurosaki Armament, her father's company. Before she could comment that she didn't want that 'reward,' she saw that Ginjou was looking sternly at her. "So, Akimoto, what'll you do if you lose?"

Forgetting that it was a bad decision to say this in _any_ situation, Karin replied, "Whatever you want."

Ginjou's grin stretched from ear to ear. "Oh? You sure about that, Akimoto?"

Karin shrugged. "Sure." How bad could it be?

Sharing a look with Renji, Ginjou whispered conspiratorially, "Then seduce the school nurse."

At this, Karin was taken aback. "What?"

The boys raised their eyebrows at this. Renji stated, "If you gave your word, Haru, then you have to keep it, as a man."

Only Karin could see the irony behind that statement.

Ten minutes before 2 o'clock, Karin waved goodbye to her senpai and left for the orientation. As she arrived at the mess hall, she saw about fifty students already there. A security guard asked for her name. He checked her off on his paper. "Akimoto, two minutes early. Oh-point-five points awarded."

Karin was really beginning to wonder what this mysterious point system was about. She resolved to ask Renji about it later. She sat down beside a small blonde guy, whom she realized had been the one hit with the pea that Ginjou had thrown.

If she was going to stay here for three years, then she might as well make friends, Karin thought. She stuck out a hand. "Hi. I'm Akimoto Haru. Call me Haru."

Tentatively, he shook her hand. "I'm… Kira Izuru. You can call me Izuru. Or Kira. Or whatever you like…"

Karin suppressed a chuckle. This boy was shy as he was small, she thought. "Okay then, Izuru."

All of a sudden, heads turned like a wave towards the front of the hall, towards the podium. A queerly dressed platinum blonde man stood there. He looked nothing like a bodyguard, in his striped hat and semi–traditional kimono. He wore wooden, uncomfortable–looking sandals.

Karin raised an eyebrow, as he raised his head, revealing a face that looked like he hadn't shaved for over a week. He clapped his hands unnecessarily, calling for the attention he already had.

"Attention, probationers." There were murmurings among the freshmen at this. Knowing the reason, the man said, "Yes, you _will_ be on a probationary period for a year. At the end of this year, if you pass the end of the year test and choose to stay, you will be given a full scholarship for this school, for all expenses. But…" he lowered his voice to a whisper that still somehow echoed through the hall, "Should you fail, you will be required to pay for all the expenses. And well over three–quarters of you _will_ fail."

There was a complete silence after his words. The man suddenly became eerily cheerful, and said in a much lighter tone, "Aaanyways, now that all the serious stuff is over with, I wish you all the best of luck, and I shall bow out now." He was about to step off the platform when he seemed to remember something. Hastily, he went back to the mike and announced, "Oh. And just in case you didn't know, I am Urahara Kisuke, the headmaster of this school. Tootles."

All the security and staff looked on, both exasperated and resigned, at their headmaster springing away,

That was it? They called us all here just for that lame speech? Karin felt cheated. But then she saw that another preceptor approach the podium.

He had blonde hair as well, but it was a whole lot more neatly cropped than the headmaster's and not nearly as pale; it was a rather robust blonde. When he spoke, he revealed a Kansai-ben dialect.

"I'm Hirako Shinji. And thank you, Headmaster, for that… extremely motivational speech." Karin thought that sarcasm directed to someone who had already split the scene rather pointless, but she paid attention to what he was saying nonetheless.

Placing his hands on the podium, Preceptor Hirako said, "I'm telling you now, probationers, I don't ever want to hear the syllable 'b' of _'bodyguard'_ from your lips. The vocational terms for the line of business we run are _Executive Protection_ , _Protective Services_ , _Personal Protection_ or _Personal Security._ 'Bodyguard' is a highly unprofessional, common term. Understood?"

Karin privately thought that those were highly pretentious ways of saying the simpler term 'bodyguard.' But with his sharp gaze upon them all, the boys nodded. Seeing this, the preceptor continued, "All of you had your physical and academic records thoroughly examined by professional to be accepted. All of you had to pass the same test to read the coordinates and get here."

He spread his hands. "So you might be deluded into thinking that you are all equals. Or you might be an idiot and think you're better than everyone else. Or you could actually be smart and know The Academy is referred to as 'The Jungle' for a reason. From here on out, this is a fight for survival. Eat or be eaten. We don't take losers. As the headmaster said, only a quarter, perhaps even fewer, of you will remain this time next year. Bear that in mind as you go about your classes."

Karin thought that this man should become the headmaster instead.

Preceptor Hirako continued, "You may have noticed that we carry out a point system in this academy. You will each have points given every time a preceptor notices exemplary Protection Officer responses. But if they see you show weakness, they will take points away. You all start out with one hundred points. If you reach zero before the end of the year, then you will automatically be expelled, and charged with all of your expenses."

At this bald explanation of the point system, Karin saw adam's apples bobbing up and down all around her.

She recalled earlier this morning, _"Do not let it happen again, or next time I'll take the customary ten points off of each of you for allowing the other to oversleep."_

If she and Renji overslept ten times between themselves, she would be kicked out of the school. It was only then she realized how costly Renji's sacrifice had been. He had called in his favor for _her_. Well, he called it in for himself, too, but he could have just kicked her awake.

Silently thanking Renji, she saw that Preceptor Hirako had vanished from the platform and that people had started to line up in front the tables. She noted students walking away from the tables with stacks of black and white clothes, and remembered they were receiving their uniforms as well.

Just as Renji had predicted, Karin ended up with size small shirts, pants, and jackets. But her height warranted her a medium–sized jumpsuit for her age group. They were all made of waterproof fabric.

After all the students had received the several sets of uniforms, the staff began to hand the students the standard freshman theory textbooks (one of the titles were really cheesy, reading 'Protectors').

Once the staff were finished handing out all the material, they said, "Dismissed!" and all the students scattered. Izuru trailed after Karin. Noticing the significantly smaller boy following her, Karin considerately slowed her walking. "Where're you rooming at?"

Izuru answered with a slight stammer, "1603. W-what about you?"

Karin heaved a mock sigh and said, "1408. It's a real unlucky number, isn't it? There's a horror movie named 1408, after all."

At this, Izuru stifled a laugh with his uniforms.

"Oh, uh, so what floor do you live on?" Karin asked. "Because even though my room number is 1408, it's located on the eighteenth floor."

"The f-fifteenth floor." Izuru said curiously. "I w-wonder how they number the rooms."

A familiarly sly voice answered, "Nuthin' to it. Word is, the constructionists were drunk when they nailed up the room numbers." As both Karin and Izuru turned to look at silver-haired preceptor behind them, he shrugged. "Either that, or it was decided randomly by Headmaster Urahara."

After she had seen the state of the headmaster, Karin rather thought it was the latter.

The preceptor slung his arms over their shoulders, saying, "Never introduced myself, did I? Name's Ichimaru Gin. Everybody calls me Preceptor Ichimaru, but that makes me feel old, so I personally prefer Gin." Considering what he just said for a moment, the preceptor amended, "Well, at least call me Preceptor Gin. Willya?"

Karin wondered if they even had a choice. But Ichimaru Gin had his fox-like smile back on. "Now, What're your names?"

Surprisingly, Izuru answered first. "Izuru. Kira Izuru."

Quickly, Karin followed Izuru's example and added her own alias, "Akimoto Haru."

The preceptor paused, slackening his arms around their shoulders. "Kira Izuru and… Akimoto… Haru… eh?"

Karin wasn't sure if Preceptor Gin glanced curiously in her direction or not; his eyes were mere slivers, and his pupils practically invisible.

He briefly tightened his arms around their shoulders before releasing them. "Well then, I'll see ya tomorrow, Bye-bye~" He waved at them.

When the two where halfway down the hallway Karin turned to Izuru, "What was that all about? Did he just stop us because he wanted us to call him 'Preceptor Gin?'"

Izuru said in a hushed whisper, "Well, I've heard that Preceptor Gin only tells that to students that he takes liking to."

"Hm."

They had arrived at a stairwell.

Karin had come to the conclusion that the 'bastards' (oh, Renji's choice words) were sadists who wanted students half dead when they arrived at their rooms. Maybe that was their twisted way of conveying that they wanted them to sleep earlier, but Karin doubted it. They probably just enjoyed torturing the students in the guise of 'toughening them up' for the rough world of 'Executive Protectors.'

Silently dreading the climb of eighteen flights, Karin started stretching. When she saw Izuru look at her questioningly, she informed him, "I advise you to do the same, Izuru. Even though fifteen flights is a jot less than eighteen, it's still quite a lot."

Seeing her point, Izuru hastily also stretched. Exhaling, Karin jogged in place before turning to Izuru and giving him a painfully false smile, "Shall we go up these lovely stairs?"

After dropping Izuru off at his floor, Karin arrived at her own, gasping, her quads feeling like water.

She just wanted to collapse on her bed. Except when she unlocked her room, she saw people already occupying her bed.

Heaving a sigh, Karin dumped her uniforms on Renji's head, and sprawled on top of Ginjou and Keigo, ignoring their protests.

Renji was looking through her uniform size tags. "Look, I was right, wasn't I?"

Karin mumbled an incoherent reply.

"Wow. Haru's totally out of it." said Ganju's voice. Waving a hand, Karin shooed her senpai away.

"Hey, we should draw on his face." came Renji's excited voice.

This brought Karin to full alertness. She sat up and said, "No way in hell." They probably would draw male genitals on her face with sharpie markers.

Renji looked put out.

The next day, having turned in early the day before, Karin woke up early and refreshed.

Stretching, Karin winced as she found her quads rather sore. But that was to be expected, after that climb of flight yesterday. Renji and the others senpai probably languished every few floors to avoid that. She sighed heavily at the idea of having to climb all those flights of stairs for the rest of the year. Or all three years. Would she have to stay in this room for the rest of her time at the school?

Not bothering to take a shower – she would become sweaty after the physical classes anyways – Karin simply washed her face, put in her contacts and thin black and white uniform. To her pleasant surprise, there were barely any changes to be made; the pants were a perfect length. She would have to exercise a bit to fill up the shirt, but there was plenty of time for that.

Coming out of the bathroom fully dressed, Karin spotted Renji who was pulling on his own uniform.

Quickly, she went back into her own room. But Renji followed her, still trying to pull his black pants on. Thankfully, he had his boxers on.

Looking at Renji strangely as he hopped one-legged into her room after her, Karin asked him, "…What?"

"We have classes together, didn't you know?"

She hadn't. Renji explained as he struggled to put on his rather tight pants, "The probationers and second years take classes together. If a probationer is lucky and passes with flying colors, in his second year he can take third year classes and graduate a year early."

 _"Lucky?"_ Karin wrinkled her nose at Renji. "Doesn't sound like luck to me. It sounds like pure skill."

Renji winked at her. "Who knows. Even a scrawny kid like you can bulk up and graduate the same time as us second years."

A smile spread on Karin's face. "Is that a challenge?"

Finally getting his pants on, Renji smirked at her. "Well, if you take it as one, sure."

So she accompanied Renji down the eighteen flights of stairs. They met up with the others at the same table and chowed down breakfast.

They went outside, and Karin scrunched up her face and shielded her eyes. Renji hastily shoved her hand down. He jerked his chin towards one of the preceptors. Karin gave him a questioning look. He muttered out of the corner of his mouth, "Shielding your eyes from the sun is a sure-fire way to have points taken off. I did that my probationary year, and got told off real good by a preceptor, saying that if I were to become a professional 'Executive Protector' I would have to keep my eyes on my *principle, at all times."

 _[*Principle: the person the bodyguard must protect. Not to be confused with employer or client, who only hire the bodyguard, though the principle and employer may be synonymous.]_

That made sense.

Karin made an effort to keep her hands at her sides. Even when she spotted Izuru, who looked rather ridiculous in his overlarge uniform, she didn't dare wave, settling for a nod and a smile.

The preceptor called for their attention. Putting his arms behind his back and placing his shoulder length apart in the typical bodyguard position, he shouted, "Now, probationers, you're new to this, so open up your ears; I'm only going to explain this once. You will choose seven unarmed martial arts to study, and rotate these over the week, training for three hours. There are the basic Japanese fighting styles, Chinese styles, and Korean styles. There's a Brazilian style too, but the instructor in charge of it died last year on a mission."

Oh. Talking about a dead teacher. What pleasant way to start a class.

The preceptor added, "And before you ask, there will be no Taichi here. Although the forms are useful when you perform them in quick succession, practicing their practice movements are slow. Unless you master it, it will just be baggage and an excuse for three hours of lazing about. Another thing is Drunken Fist. Alcohol is strictly prohibited."

Karin frowned at the second part. Unable to restrain herself, she exclaimed, "But Drunken Fist doesn't require for you to be drunk! You're just imitating a drunkard's movements!"

Renji winced and mentally facepalmed. _'Haru, you moron…'_

The preceptor's eyes settled on Karin. Almost immediately, Karin regretted her outburst. "Akimoto, right?"

His face was emotionless for the longest time. Then his face broke out into a wide grin. "That's correct! Akimoto, you're awarded twenty points! A Personal Security Officer must know when to argue and overrule orders for the sake of the principle safety."

Both Karin and Renji sighed with relief. Security guards began to pass out a list with what seemed like an endless number of martial arts, with the day of the week it would be instructed next to them. Karin looked at the list and saw that Drunken Fist, Zui-quan, was indeed on the list for Wednesday. However, Taichi still was not listed.

So for the first hour, while the second years sparred with each other, the freshmen chose the seven martial arts they would study. There was everything from Baguazhang to Hapkido. Karin looked over all of the martial arts, unable to decide for her greediness. She wanted to learn _all_ of them. Not just seven.

Izuru also stared at the list, but he looked considerably less excited than Karin did. It looked like he didn't want to learn _any_. Karin briefly glanced at his face and wondered how on earth his physical records had passed the sticklers who looked over applications to The Academy. Did he even enroll here of his own will?

"You know Haru-kun, I th-think I'll decide on Karate and Judo f-for two of them."

"Well, I think I'll choose Five Animals for one. It includes Dragon form. That sounds cool." Looking more closely, Karin added, "And Tiger and Crane."

Izuru looked surprised. "Y-you want to learn Chinese martial arts?"

Karin shrugged. "Why not? I already know Judo and Aikido. Maybe I should choose Jujutsu for another."

In the end, Karin chose Drunken Fist, Jujutsu, Five Animals, Wing-chun(spring chant), and the Korean styles, Taekkyon and Hapkido.

As he had mentioned earlier, Izuru went with Aikido, Judo and five of Karin's choices, aside from the Drunken Fist and Five Animals.

For the remaining two hours, they went divided into Monday's martial arts groups – which Karin had with Izuru for Jujutsu – and went over the basics along with the second years.  
At the end of the Jujutsu session, the two were drenched with sweat.

But it was far from over.

Another preceptor had taken over command. Assuming the same standard bodyguard stance, he announced, "For three hours every other day, you will be learning armed martial arts."

Karin's jaw dropped. She had expected grueling training, but she hadn't expected for there to be _six_ hours of it. In a row.

Aghast, she and Izuru simultaneously looked at each other. Out of the corner of her eye, Karin saw Renji, shouldering a glaive, shoot her an amused glance. She made a rude gesture at him, and he laughed outright.

' _Okay, I'm gonna take Naginatajutsu_ (the way of the glaive) _, and wipe the floor with Renji's ass.'_

Though she wavered over Battoujutsu, (having read _Rurouni Kenshin_ ) she thought better of it. The was just a manga after all. So she chose Wudang Sword and Kobudou.

She grinned evilly when she hefted a glaive of proper height to her. She would get good at this, and fast; she had incentive, after all. But after two hours, she was still wiped out, and they had only gone over the basics. As she and Izuru tottered towards the mess hall, she noticed to her surprise that Renji was still relatively fresh. Frowning at him, Karin asked, "How are you still so energetic?"

Renji flexed his bicep and said, "You see, I have endless source of stamina."

Karin snorted. "An endless pit for a stomach, you mean." After yesterday, she had realized that Renji's stomach was a black-hole.

Realizing that Izuru was hovering at her elbow, Karin introduced him to Renji. "Izuru, Abarai Renji. Renji, Kira Izuru."

They both blinked at her. "That's it?" Renji said, disgruntled. "No, 'this is my suitemate,' or 'this is my yearmate' or anything?"

"Okay, so my introductions are short." Karin admitted, albeit with heaps of sarcasm on top. "It's not _my_ fault I don't know your life stories."

"You don't need to know whole life stories to introduce someone properly!" Renji returned heatedly.

They bickered all the way to the mess hall.

After lunch, all of them were in food comas; unfortunately they had to lug their bodies to attend academics.

After wearily climbing back up to her room, Karin gathered her textbooks (and ransacked all of Renji's clothes to find his, as he had pulled a 'senpai' on her and ordered her to get his). Finding her senpai again, Karin followed them to the theory classes.

There weren't any seating charts in the semi-circular lecture hall, so they all went up to back of the room and sat at a single table in a row. Students slowly wandered into the classroom, until all hundred seats were filled.

A burly man with glasses and a bushy mustache came in last, and Karin supposed he was a preceptor.

"I am Tsukabishi Tessai. You are to refer to me as Preceptor Tsukabishi. In this class, we will spend three hours each day studying about the necessary aspects of not only the Protective Service industry, but of regular academics. This week, we will study the protocols required of Protection Officers, and the week after we will go over logistics."

At the word 'protocols,' Karin fought not to plant her face against the desk. Apparently, she wasn't only one who felt that way. Her senpai seemed resigned to having this bulky, boring man teach them _protocol_. As for academics, she had already learnt everything she needed to know. She even knew how to do combinatorics; what more did they want?

After listening to three hours of mindless droning straight, another man came in. Rousing from her semi-unconscious state, Karin recognized the silver hair. Though they were sitting at the back, Preceptor Gin saw her and Izuru and gave them a small wave. They sat at the back, but he still saw them? Curious. Maybe those slitted eyes actually hid the visual ability of a hawk?

Precepter Tsukabishi saw Preceptor Gin enter, and closed the textbook with a snap. "Well then, class, Preceptor Ichimaru will take over from now." He began to pack up his suitcase.

"Heya, students, my name is Ichimaru Gin. I'm twenty-six, my blood type is O, my favorite food – "

Tsukabishi Tessai paused on his way to leave, and said in a warning voice, "Preceptor Ichimaru."

Gin grin widened as he turned to Tessai. He waved airily and said, "Aight, aight, I gotcha. Aren'cha… late to a meeting or something?"

Taking the not-so-subtle hint, Tessai huffed his way out of the class.

Turning back to the class, Gin continued on a different thread, "Now, I'll be teaching ya'll _strategies_. _Tactics._ All that jazz. There is no right answer in this class. And I don't mind ya'll talking 'mongst yourselves, so long as it doesn't drown out my voice. And last of all, the test in this class…" for the first time Karin had ever seen him, Preceptor Gin's slitted eyes opened slightly, revealing light blue pupils. "…will be how to _use_ everything you learn from your other classes on the field."

His eyes returned to their customary slits. "Aight, dismissed!" Then he swept out of the room. All the students stared, stunned at the preceptor's casual manners.

Turning to her senpai, Karin asked them, "Is that all?"

Her senpai looked at her, just as bewildered. "This never happened before." said Renji, looking unsettled.

"…Preceptor Ichimaru _never_ does this." Ginjou looked grim.

Karin looked up, pondering. "I wonder what's different this year?" she mused out loud.

Keigo interrupted the serious atmosphere by jumping up and exclaiming, "This means early break! No homework! More sleep! Yes~!"

…

I'm only going to put in a few character profiles this time.

 **Name: Ginjou Kuugo  
** Age: 16 years  
Height: 5'8.5"/174cm (Status: still growing)  
Favorite food: Chicken wings  
Least favorite food: Green peas  
Favorite sport: Boxing

 **Name: Kira Izuru  
** Age: 14 years  
Heght: 5'/152cm (Status: still growing)  
Favorite food: No preference  
Least favorite food: None  
Favorite sport: None

 **Name: Ichimaru Gin**  
Age: 26 years  
Height: 6'1"/185cm (Status: fully grown)  
Favorite food: Dried persimmon  
Least favorite food: Dried potato  
Favorite sport: Sleeping

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: Don't worry about all the martial art names. You don't really have to know about them.


	3. Mission 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: Not mine. Kubo Tite's.

**The Bodyguard**

Mission 3

…

Panting harshly, Karin threw the dead weight onto her bed. She looked disgustedly at her principle, lying there out cold. But she was too tired to be angry with an unconscious man.

Without even bothering to move her principle aside, Karin collapsed onto the bed as well. Well aware that she was a bruised, bloody, _crusted_ mess, she resisted from burying her face into her soft pillow. Well, with her equally dirty principle already there lying there like a ten-ton paperweight, she'd have to wash the sheets anyways.

Slowly, Karin took inventory of her wounds. Forehead wound; check. Split lip; check. Cracked ribs; maybe not, but they were definitely bruised. Collapsed lung? Not quite, but it sure as hell felt close.

Man, her principle packed a punch.

Reluctantly, Karin peeled herself off of the bed and winced; her body ached all over. She would have to take a week off from work to recover. Maybe longer. Her employer would understand. Snailing towards the bathroom, Karin finally arrived and opened the door, grimacing as her muscles protested at the further abuse. Placing both hands on each side of the sink to heavily lean on it, Karin glanced up into the mirror.

' _Oh. Black eye; check.'_

…

 _4 years ago_

…

Karin discovered that between the days of armed martial arts training, they had firearm training. On the next day (feeling especially sore from the martial arts training the day before) she followed Renji and Ginjou to an area on the third floor. She saw a dark-skinned man – she assumed that he was Afro-Japanese – standing in front of the door, awaiting them.

As they drew nearer, Karin noticed that he wore sunglasses, but he wasn't wearing shoes. ' _It's indoors, so why does he bother wearing sunglasses?'_ she wondered. _'Does he think it's an accessory? And why isn't he wearing shoes?'_ But she didn't voice any of these questions. _'A bodyguard… no, an Executive Protector, doesn't ask any questions._ ' She reminded herself.

Every seat in the lecture hall had a disassembled gun in the desk in front of it. Even the teacher's desk had a gun. No, the teacher's desk had two. But there were no targets in the lecture hall. Disappointed, Karin supposed that they were only going to learn how to assemble guns that day.

Karin sat down next to Renji, who had oddly chosen to sit in the front row. Maybe he liked this class. And as usual, Izuru sat next to her. Once all the students had come in, the dark-skinned man started to speak.

"For you first-years who don't know me, I will introduce myself. My name is Tousen Kaname, and I am to teach you about different types of firearms and how to assemble and disassemble them. …and I will also teach you how to fear weapons."

First-year students murmured at the last sentence. The preceptor started pacing.

"Most of you are under the impression that Executive Protectors must be fearless. Enamored with the idea that you are being trained to battle. That is incorrect. Your job is to _protect_. You must fear yourself. Fear the damage that you are capable of dealing. Fear your weapon. Therefore, you must fear firearms as well. You must fear the consequences of pulling the trigger."

Karin found her eyes drawn to his bare, brown feet as they paced upon the ground, giving off a feeling of agitation. Abruptly, he stopped walking.

"Today, you will assemble a handgun. I will not tell you what model until you have finished. First-years, I will test how much you already know. Second years, I will test what you remember."

Renji looked excited, like a kid about to go trick-or-treating. Karin looked at him, amused. After all, he did seem like a gun freak.

She glanced down at the pieces of gun in front of her. From a single look, she could tell it was a HK-45. Her father was the CEO of a weapons manufacturing company; recognizing and assembling guns was second nature to her. She'd done it countless times.

Now _shooting_ them, on the other hand…

In all her fourteen years, her father hadn't so much as let her _near_ a loaded gun. He'd even banned her from all the shooting ranges affiliated with Kurosaki Armament. She'd tried to go in anyways, but they had all recognized her on sight and none of the other shooting ranges would accept minors without parental permission. And she couldn't well shoot holes in the mansion, no matter how tempting the idea sounded.

" _A girl shouldn't handle firearms."_

Karin snorted at the memory.

Her father had gone as far as to ban her from airsoft guns, paintball _,_ and even laserfighting. Heck, she couldn't even play _Halo_ without sneaking over to her friend's house. Anything that involved a nozzle, aiming, and pulling the trigger, was forbidden to her.

She looked up as a fellow first-year piped up, "Preceptor Tousen, why are you wearing those sunglasses? There's no sun inside."

Preceptor Tousen paused. "Why… you ask?"

He took off his sunglasses, and they saw that he had a scar that stretched across both his eyes, and his pupils were blank, staring forward. The first-years stifled gasps. On the other hand, Karin was intrigued. A blind man, able to assemble weapons? He must know all possible weapons, by just feeling their individual parts. His bare feet must have memorized all of the training complex, for him to move around as freely as he could. Karin wondered how much dedication that took.

The preceptor said, "You must all be wondering how a blind man can teach this class."

He walked to behind his desk, where the parts of an AK-47 lay. He assembled it in less than 30 seconds, barrel and all.

Karin let out a low whistle. _'So this must be why Renji is so geared up for this class.'_

But even after this display, there some doubters still existed. "But if you're blind, how will you teach us to shoot a gun?"

Preceptor Tousen clicked the safety off and aimed the AK-47 directly at the speaker, who gulped. "Though I may no longer be fit for a Security Protector, I have memorized every nook and cranny of The Academy, and can shoot anything that makes even the smallest sound."

He clicked the safety back into place and slowly lowered the weapon. "I may not be able to see, but I can hit any and every target in this academy."

There were no sounds save for the clacking as Preceptor Tousen rapidly disassembled the AK-47. Placing the last part of the gun upon his desk, Tousen spoke.

"Now, you may begin the assembly. At the end of five minutes, either I or my assistants will come around to check how you have done."

Mechanically, Karin's hands reached out and took every part of the gun in order, clicking into place, as if her body didn't need to be told what to do. She assembled the HK-45 even more quickly than Preceptor Tousen had. Granted, the HK-45 had considerably fewer parts than the AK-47.

Still far from finished, the three boys stared at her, mouths agape. Izuru found his voice first.  
"W-wow, Haru-kun." Though he didn't have much to offer.

Ginjou started settling the spring into place. "You're really fast at this, aren't you, Akimoto?"

A bit faster than the other two, Renji had already finished putting in the spring. "You should try out for the record."

Karin raised an eyebrow at this. "Record?"

Finally finishing with the spring and starting with the barrel, Ginjou nodded. "The record for the fastest assembly for a every firearm. They hold it every two months. The current record holder for all of them is my suitemate." He frowned, thinking. "Come to think of it, I've heard the guy held the record ever since he came. No one has broken it since."

Something shifted in Karin's mind. "You mean the heir to Ammo Co." She stated.

If Renji had a sour face on before, it was nothing compared to his scowl now. "It's probably because he's been putting guns together since he could walk. Maybe even before."

Last time Karin had checked, the CEO of Ammo Co hadn't even announced his successor yet. Then again, she'd never been quite up to date with the gun-geek tabloids. They focused a lot on the rivalry of Kurosaki Armament and Ammo Co. And since her father liked to tout his children around, there were too many articles concerning the Kurosaki siblings' personal lives for her comfort.

"Who _is_ the successor to Ammo Co?" She asked curiously.

Again, her three friends looked at her, this time in disbelief.

"You mean you don't know – "

"Five minutes have passed." The sightless preceptor had stopped in front of them. He held out his hand, an obvious indication that he wanted to check whether that had put their firearms together properly.

Hesitantly, Ginjou handed his gun to the preceptor. Preceptor Tousen ran his hands over it, found it acceptable, and nodded before placing it on the desk in front of Ginjou.

Next, Renji placed his assembled gun into the expecting brown hand. He too, passed.

When Karin handed her own handgun over, her palm brushed against Preceptor Tousen's and he grabbed her hand. Surprised, Karin hastily tried to pull her hand away, but Preceptor Tousen held on firmly. "These calluses…" Tousen sad in wonder. "How long have you been working with firearms, young lad?"

Karin felt distinctly uncomfortable. She had never thought to cover that in Haru's background information. So she lied, "Since I turned eleven, sir."

The corner of Tousen's mouth tightened. _'He can tell I'm lying.'_ Karin realized. His hand was still enclosed around her wrist, and though her voice was steady, her pulse had skyrocketed.

However, the preceptor didn't call Karin on her lie. Instead, he loosened his hold around her wrist and silently examined her gun with his fingers. Setting her gun down, he asked her, "What is your name, first-year?"

How could he tell she was a first-year? Swallowing nervously, Karin said as evenly as possible, "Akimoto Haru, sir." He no longer held her wrist, so there was no way he could tell whether she was lying or not, Karin reasoned.

Nodding in acknowledgment, Tousen said, "Very good." and continued on to examine the Izuru's incomplete gun, leaving Karin feeling somewhere between relieved and unsettled.

After examining their row, Tousen retired to his desk, leaving the rest of the examination to his assistants. Soon, the assistants finished checking the assembly and returned to report to the preceptor how the students had done. Nodding, Tousen stood up. Eyes turned to the preceptor, who announced, "We will indeed have to go over the handgun assembly process, as it seems that not only do most of the first-years do not know how to, but a few second years have forgotten as well." He picked up the barrel of the gun on his desk. "This gun is called the HK-45."

Karin impatiently tapped her fingers against the desk, as Preceptor Tousen explained and demonstrated how to assemble the weapon. When Tousen began to go over the disassembly process, Karin finally whispered to Renji, "When do we start the aiming and shooting?"

"We start today."

As if to prove it, Tousen finished the disassembling demonstration and said, "Those of you who are new to this, read Chapter 1 of 'Firearms.' Now, follow me. We will go to the shooting range."

This was it. Karin's her heart pound as she filed out of the room, down the stairs, and stepped into the basement.

And stopped. The shooting range had to be bigger than a soccer stadium.

"Awesome…" She breathed.

Renji looked at her, amused. "Yeah. It's only slightly bigger than most shooting ranges, country boy."

Karin took a swipe at him, but her fist flew right through the air. "I'll have you know that I'm from central Tokyo, you twit."

But their antics stopped abruptly when they saw an assistant with three parallel scars over his right eye and the tattoo 69 on his left cheek step out. She saw Ginjou and Renji snigger. "Sixty-nine… How dirty…"

She looked at them oddly. What was the big deal? It was just a number.

The assistant began to speak. "For you newbies, my name is Hisagi Shuuhei, the primary assistant to Preceptor Tousen. You how learned how to assemble and disassemble the HK-45. Now, you will learn how to shoot with it."

He and the other assistants proceeded to check if each HK-45 gun was safely locked and then tossed them out to the students.

Some of the students caught the handguns clumsily as if they feared that it might go off, while others like Karin and Renji caught it deftly. Ginjou caught his by the trigger with his finger, whirling it around and smiling like the Cheshire cat. "I've been practicing." He smugly told Renji.

"With who?" Renji demanded.

"With myself." was the nonchalant answer.

"Bull." was Renji's oh-so articulate answer. "How did you really do it?"

The Spanish inquisition was cut short by the call to stand in lines of three or four in front of thirty targets.

Karin frowned at the 'thirty targets' part. "Why aren't we using the whole shooting range? This place is huge enough for one person per target and plenty to spare." She asked no one in particular.

It was Ginjou who answered, "Because the third years are due for their practice just about…" Some other students filed in from the other end of the basement. "…now." Ginjou finished, looking pointedly at the newcomers who each took a different weapon hanging from the wall behind them, clipped noise reducers to their ears, and each took a target of their own.

Karin's face twisted. "Still. There are plenty of targets left over." The place was nowhere near its maximum capacity.

Ginjou shrugged. "Oh look, there's my suitemate." Elbowing Renji in the ribs, he motioned to a third year. Uninterested, Karin turned to Izuru and said, "Grab me some of those clips, will you?"

Izuru complied, and he walked along with Karin to an unclaimed target. Swiping a few clips of their own, they followed them.

Uncharacteristically, Karin didn't try to go first. Instead, she let the three boys go first, looking nervously at the target, with the area about four square-feet. Loud shots were already ringing in the arena.

Ginjou and Renji just missed the center of the target. Izuru went next, and to everyone's surprise, hit exactly on-target.

"Well, isn't this a pleasant surprise, Kira." Grinning Ginjou clapped him on the shoulder.

Embarrassed, Izuru took off his headphones scratched his neck and said, "My f-father made me practice since I was little."

At this, Ginjou groaned, "I wish my old man were even _half_ as supportive as yours."

Privately, Karin agreed, until she realized the three boys were all looking expectantly at her. Belatedly, she realized that it was her turn to shoot. Snapping on her own noise reducers, Karin gulped. Trembling despite her best efforts, she raised the gun and shut an eye to aim. Taking a deep breath, she lowered the safety catch and fired.

It barely clipped the target.

Renji stared at her, not bothering to hide his shock. "You've been putting guns together for three years, but have you never shot one?"

Karin hung her head in shame and didn't answer.

Ginjou patted her back awkwardly. "Don't worry, Akimoto." he said in what he obviously thought was a soothing voice. "The assistants'll fix your shooting stance and teach you how to aim. You'll get it in no time."

Forcing a grin, Karin made herself nod.

Sure enough, the assistants began to go around and fix the students' stances. When an assistant reached Karin's line, he said, "Show me the basic stance, probationers." All of them obeyed.

To Karin's intense embarrassment, she was the only one criticized.

The assistant said incredulously, "Are you serious? You call that a stance?" Lip curling, he said, "I can already tell you won't get past the probationary period." Ignoring Karin's mortified look, he took the HK-45 from her. "I'm not even going to bother adjusting your stance. There are too many changes to make. You can look at the handbook and try your… _best_." His tone of voice made it clear that he thought that she was a lost cause.

Without further ado, the assistant went into the basic shooting stance. " _This_ is a typical shooting stance. Closing one eye is only used for sniping people, and we're not hitmen." He assumed a different stance, effortlessly lowered the gun, and without wasting a second, shot it dead-center. Twirling the gun and clicking on the safety again, he turned towards them. "There are several basic shooting stances, like this one-handed stance, and the two-handed shot that this guy," he shot Karin a look, "was doing a pathetic imitation of. Once you get used to shooting in all the stances, you should be able to shoot accurately from any position."

Disgusted, he threw the weapon back at Karin. "I don't expect that from _you_ though. With your _talent_ , or lack thereof, it'd be a miracle if you even managed to hit bullseye with all the aiming time in the world." He said bitingly. As he headed towards the next line, they heard him mutter, "Man, the first-years get worse every year."

Renji and Ginjou grimaced at this, while Izuru looked nervous. Karin, however, flushed in anger and clenched her fists. She felt a hand squeeze her on the shoulder, and her fists loosened. "That's how most first-years start out. Don't stress." Renji told her.

Though Renji sounded much more reassuring than Ginjou had, somehow, Karin doubted it.

She went to bed that night, feeling depressed.

The next morning, Karin awoke to Renji's hoarse scream. Rubbing her eyes, she sleepily poked her head into his room and squinted. "Why the horror movie heroine imitation?"

Ignoring his suitemate's blatant insult to his manliness, Renji shoved an article into her face.

"Kurosaki Karin! She's gone!"

Abruptly, Karin came to complete alertness. Word had gotten out already? Snatching the article, she scanned it and saw that they had plastered a picture of her, accompanied by a gross exaggerated - or rather, a completely incorrect, as they had said that her rooms showed signs of struggle - account of her disappearance, along with speculations as to why. She had thought her father would at least _try_ to keep it quiet for as long as possible…

Meanwhile, Renji looked like the world was ending. He grabbed the collar of Karin's shirt and shook her. "She's gone, I tell you, she's _gone!_ Maybe she ran away from home!"

Karin nervously said, "Th-that's ridiculous. Why would she?"

"How would _I_ know? Her father's the CEO of a weapons production corporation. For all I know, he could treat his children terribly…" Renji let go of her and clutched at his red hair. "Or maybe she's been kidnapped! Maybe that's why her father tried to hush it up!" He grasped Karin's shirt again. "What do I do?"

Okay, his rattling her was _really_ getting on her nerves. Pushing him off of her, she demanded, "Shove off. What _can_ you do?" Renji wilted at that. "And how did you get hold of that article in the first place? I thought that magazines weren't allowed."

"Nevermind that…" Renji moaned and collapsed on his bed, scattering clothes everywhere. Karin had to drag him out of bed and practically _dress_ him in his uniform.

All throughout the day, Renji was gloomy and silent. He even picked at his food for all his meals. His friends gave him pitying looks. Izuru was confused as to why he was acting so unlike the regular boisterous Renji he had seen for the past few days. Karin answered his unasked question shortly, "Kurosaki Karin disappeared, and to him, that's a _tragedy,_ it seems."

For the third time that day, Renji seized Karin's collar, hauling her to her feet. "Say that again." He hissed.

She had been short of temper since Renji seemed so distressed over _'Kurosaki Karin's'_ disappearance, and this was the last straw. She yelled in his face, "What's so good about her anyways? Why are you hanging onto her like she's your last lifeline?"

Renji drew his fist back and punched her in the face. After the initial shock, Karin recovered quickly punched him back. Renji threw himself at her, and they ended up brawling with each other, rolling on the ground. When Karin had landed on top and was just about to punch Renji again, firm hands pulled her off of him. She thrashed, struggling to throw them off of her. "Get… Off!"

Once their friends had restrained Karin and Renji, they kept the two as far apart as possible. Struggling furiously against Ginjou's grip, Renji shouted at her, "How _dare_ you talk about Karin like that! You haven't met her! She's the kindest girl I've met! She was compassionate to me even though I was a complete stranger!"

Karin stopped struggling, and without her pulling force to balance theirs out, Keigo and Mizuiro fell backwards.

"You've met… her?"

"Yes!" Renji spat. "I have! You think I loved her just for her looks? I've loved her ever since I was six! Even though I was just a dirty orphan living in the slums, she still held out a hand to me! She's the one who found me an orphanage! She's the reason I dreamt of becoming a bodyguard, because I wanted to meet her again and protect her! And now she's…"

He sounded so heartbroken that Karin lowered her arms.

"I… didn't know you were an orphan." She said quietly.

Renji glared venomously at her. "You think you know anything about me?"

"My, my. This is quite a scene."

Karin didn't have to turn around to recognize the voice. "Preceptor Gin."

A familiar thin man was watching from a few meters away, with his usual wide smile on his face. "I wonder who started the fight? Startin' a fist fight warrants severe punishment, ya know." Though his face was always smiling, Karin had the vague feeling that this smile was a truly amused one, and for the first time she had met Preceptor Gin, Karin felt her blood run cold.

Renji stopped struggling as well and his eyes widened in terror. From his reaction, it seemed that the punishment here was painful beyond what she had ever imagined. Renji didn't deserve that; he had only been defending 'Kurosaki Karin' after all. And for a just reason, it seemed. Karin didn't want her suitemate to deal with the punishment.

Taking a deep breath, Karin bit her lip and made the sacrifice. "…I started it."

Everybody stared at her in shock. Technically, Karin thought, it was true. She had verbally started the fight, after all.

"Haru – " Ginjou began.

The silver-haired preceptor's smile widened. "Ya sure? Your friends' faces suggest otherwise."

Karin raised her face to meet the preceptor's squarely. "Yes. I was the one who started the fight."

Gin took an apple from her tray, examined it and tossed it. Catching it, took a bite out of it. "Mm… Fall is the perfect season for apples, don't ya think?" Replacing it onto Karin's tray, he turned his back to them. "I'll take ya word for it, Haru- _chan_. I don' really wanna do this, but it's regulations, ya know? And the other precep're watching me. So come to the staff room at nine today." Raising a hand in farewell, he sauntered off.

When Gin was out of earshot Renji slumped in Ginjou's grip. "…Why did you do that, Haru?" He asked her in a low voice.

Not looking at him, Karin shrugged. "Just felt like it."

Ginjou's hold tightened as Renji fought to escape once again. "You idiot! _I_ was the one who started the fight! _Not you! I_ should be the one dealing with the punishment! _Not you!_ "

Karin didn't know whether she should be touched or bewildered by his anger _on_ her behalf aimed _towards_ her. So she settled for something in between, feeling touched but only voicing her bewilderment. "What're you getting angry for? It looks like I just saved your ass, so just swallow your pride and deal with it."

She grabbed her tray and dumped the contents into the food recycler, and slammed the tray down on the counter.

Later, laying spread eagle on her bed, Karin wracked her memories for the incident that Renji had mentioned. A hazy memory of wandering off from her family when she'd been four and somehow ending up in a scary place came to mind… but she didn't remember much after that.

Closing her eyes, she regretted that she didn't remember an event that had such a big impact on a boy's life. _'Sorry, Renji…'_

She heard a door slam; Renji had returned. However, he didn't speak to her.

Two hours later, Karin found herself standing in front of the staff room, wondering if she should turn the doorknob and accept the punishment, or just make a break for it while she still could. Until she saw a tall shadow cast on the door.

"Why're ya hesitating?"

She moved aside and bowed. "Preceptor Ichimaru."

The preceptor's smile faded a little, before he hitched it back on. "Nah ah ah, I told ya to call me Preceptor Gin, didn't I? Well, let's discuss that during the punishment." He opened the door, as Karin thought, _'During? Not after?'_

The staff room was empty. Gin immediately walked in and headed towards what looked like a kitchen counter. Karin trailed in after him, confused. There was a round table, with about five chairs around it. Two armchairs were situated in front of a fireplace, that was currently not kindled. There was even a refrigerator. For lack of a better word, it actually looked _homey._ All in all, it didn't look much like a torture chamber.

But one could never tell by appearances.

"Sit down, Haru-chan. What kinda drink do ya like?"

Caught off guard, Karin automatically answered honestly, "Hot chocolate." Why would he ask her what drink she liked? Was this going to be her last drink? Like how you could choose what meal you were going to have the day before capital punishment?

"And what drink do ya hate the most?" Or was it not even that? Was he going to force her to drink what she hated the most before torturing her?

Warily, Karin answered, again honestly, "Uh, carrot juice…"

He shuffled over to the refrigerator. After a moment, holding a jug, the preceptor returned to the counter, and began to busily make something. _'Does he intend to eat while I'm being tortured? Like an audience crunching on popcorn at a horror movie?'_ Karin thought irrationally. Then again, she couldn't exactly keep calm when punishment – a terrible one for all she knew – awaited her.

A minute that felt like an eternity passed and Gin turned around, with a mock regretful smile on his face. He set a steaming mug of a substance that looked rather like hot chocolate in front of her. "I originally intended to give ya carrot juice, since that's what the drink ya said ya hated the most… but we don't have any, so I gave ya what ya liked the most instead."

He sipped at his own drink, which looked like cranberry juice. Karin cautiously raised the steaming mug to her lips and took a small sip of it. When the taste hit her tongue, she spat it out, looking down at the mug, horrified.

"This isn't hot chocolate!"

Gin's smile widened. "I lied. This _is_ punishment after all. I jus' put in the bitterest Chinese medicine that I could find. Doncha worry. Even if it tastes real nasty, it's real good for the body."

Karin squeaked, "Are you preparing me for the horrible punishment I'm going to receive later?"

Gin seemed like his usual self, until he raised a hand to his mouth to hide something that sounded suspiciously like a snort of laughter. When he lowered his hand, his smile was even wider. To Karin's surprise, the preceptor put a hand on her head and ruffled her hair, with something reminiscent of fondness. "Nah, nuthin like that. I'm just punishin' that other kid by bringing you down here and offerin' ya a drink."

Karin's head was beginning to spin; there were so many things she didn't understand.

Reading her face expression, the preceptor elaborated, "It's a psychological tactic, ya see. Ya took the punishment _for_ him, so _he's_ being punished by the mere _thought_ of ya being punished." He looked thoughtful for a moment. "It'll prob'ly be torture for him about now."

Karin didn't know whether to be relieved or disturbed. Gulping down the rest of his cranberry juice, Gin leaned forward on the table and asked Karin, "Are ya really gonna call me 'Preceptor Ichimaru,' Haru-chan?"

How he addressed her as 'Haru- _chan_ ' bothered Karin, so she answered bravely, "As long as you add the suffix 'chan' to my name, yes."

Gin leaned back in his chair. "So if ya don''t like Haru-chan, how should I address ya? Haru-kun?"

That was minimally better, so Karin nodded.

"Aight then, Haru- _kun_ , d'ya want ice cream?"

And so, while they were digging away at the pint of Häagen-Dazs they chatted – or rather Gin chatted at her most of the time – about random things, like the reason why he hated dried potatoes, what weather he liked, how scary the school nurse could be and how he'd found out, what temperature he wanted for the hot springs to be, etc, etc.

When it turned 11 o'clock, Karin started. She hadn't realized it had become this late. As if he knew what she was thinking, the preceptor looked at the clock and casually said, "Two hours of torture is enough, doncha think? I'll letcha go back now."

With his usual grin, he escorted Karin to the door and waved. "Bye bye, Haru-kun~"

When she reached her room, she found her suitemate sitting on her bed, head in hands.

"Renji?"

Renji's head snapped up, and Karin saw that his eyes were red-rimmed. He dashed over to her and grabbed her shoulders.

"Haru…? Wh-what did he do to you?"

Thinking of a (rather cruel) prank she could play on Renji, Karin screwed her face into the most painful face she could and clutched her arms. "L-let go, Renji… It hurts."

Looking horrified, Renji immediately let go. Breathing shallowly, he asked, "D-did he whip you? _Brand_ you?" His had a panicked face expression, and he looked like he was about to hyperventilate.

Seeing this, Karin spluttered with laughter, giving herself away. She shook with laughter. And so Karin found herself being held by the collar for the _fourth_ time that day.

Renji's face was comparable to a tiger that had just had his tail yanked on. "Akimoto. Haru. Were you just _fucking with me?_ What did he do to you?"

Laughter barely abating, Karin shrugged. "Nothing. He just gave me a cup of some nasty herbal medicine and we ate some Häagen-Dazs."

Again, she found herself being shaken by the collar. Sighing, Karin firmly removed Renji's hand from her shirt. Shaking a finger at him, she told him sternly, "If that's how you express your relief, then I strongly suggest you find some other way. Preferably less violent."

He slumped onto her bed again.

"Akimoto Haru… Don't _ever_ do that to me again…"

Several weeks passed after that incident, and Karin found herself settling into a routine.

Of course, no sooner than she had thought it, the routine had to be broken.

She had been intensely going over the anatomy homework that Preceptor Tsukabishi had assigned when Renji burst into the room, along with Ginjou.

Without looking up, she asked tersely, "What do you want?"

"Oi, oi, Haru, is that any way to greet your seniors?" Renji slammed down a hand down on her heavy textbook.

Annoyed, Karin finally looked up and snarled, "Oh, Abarai-sama, Ginjou-dono, what is it that you require of this lowly probationer?"

The boys burst into raucous laughter, before Ginjou said, "Akimoto, remember that bet that we made the first day?"

Karin froze. She had forgotten about that bet. "Uh… Yyyeaah… I do?"

Ginjou raised an eyebrow. "Oh? Then you think you're fast enough to hit me, Akimoto?" His voice was mocking.

Homework forgotten, Karin rose from her seat.

Down at the training area where they had decided to meet, Karin stretched out her body. Izuru nervously stood beside her. "Do y-you really intend to fight him, Haru-kun?"

Karin sank down into a crouching stance, stretching her legs. "You should know me by now, Izuru. I'm not that complex a person to take over two weeks to analyze." Well, except for the part about her being female.

Spotting a head of red hair bobbing closer, Karin stood up. She asked Izuru, "What should I use to defeat him? Taekkyon? Jujutsu?" Her yearmate made no reply.

"Drunken fist, then."

Karin shook out her limbs.

Renji and Ginjou finally arrived. Faking a yawn, Karin said, "What took you so long? I thought I would die waiting."

The boys both grinned widely, then Renji announced, "Here are the rules. You have one minute to land a hit on him. No weapons, projectiles, brass knuckles, or knives."

At the 'knives' part, Karin became indignant. "Knives? What do you take me for? A bloodthirsty maniac?"

Shoving his hands into his pockets, Ginjou shrugged. "Hey, we have to set the ground rules." After a moment, he added, "Oh. And if you fail – which I guarantee you will – you can always try again. With another bet on the line."

Renji wiggled a finger at Karin and said in a sing-songy voice. "If at first you don't succeed, then try, try again~"

They were trying to rile her up, Karin knew.

And it was working.

Izuru could practically feel the heat coming off of his yearmate, and his eyes widened. He tried to calm his friend down. "Haru-kun! They're just joking – "

The ferocious look in the brown eyes glaring down at him shut him up.

Karin turned back to Ginjou with a forced smile on her face. "And when will we start…?"

Renji pressed the timer button on his wristwatch. "Now."

Unprepared for the sudden beginning, Karin missed her chance to get a head start. She saw Ginjou slowly withdraw a hand from his pocket, pulling out a magazine. And when he stuck it out at her on a certain page, she immediately blushed a furious red and covered her eyes. Ginjou took that chance to KO her. He grinned at the adult magazine, satisfied. "One-hit win. Works every time."

His partner-in-crime slapped him on the back, equally amused. "Well, if he challenges you again, we can't use that method again. No element of surprise."

When Karin woke, she lay in what she supposed was the hospital wing. She sat up and winced. Her cheekbone felt really sore. Really, _really_ sore.

Seeing Karin sit up, a woman shuffled over. "Oh, you've gotten up. Your friends brought you here. Akimoto-kun, right?"

From her kind but beautiful face, Karin knew that this had to be the nurse that Ginjou and Renji, the damned sneaky bastards they were, spoke of. When they had spoken of weapons, they had purposely only mentioned only the _metal_ weapons. Not the _mental_ ones. _She_ wouldn't have used such underhanded tactics.

But she admitted that she had lost the bet. And she had given her ' _word as a man,'_ as they put it, so she had to carry through, didn't she? Even though Preceptor Gin had told her what happened to him when he had gotten on her bad side.

"Just call me Haru, Miss…" When Karin tried to put on a charming smile, it actually turned into a grimace of pain. Her cheek really hurt.

The woman smiled. "Unohana Retsu."

Karin had no idea how to seduce women. That much would have been obvious as she was a female herself. But she also had no idea how to seduce men, so that was a moot point. She was only fourteen, for heaven's sake. It just wasn't natural for fourteen year-olds to know how to seduce _anybody._ She should probably ask Mizuiro about it, as it seemed like he knew a lot about seducing older women. For now, Karin just tried the sympathy route, and gingerly put a hand to her left cheek, exaggerating a grimace that she didn't have to try that hard to make.

"Oh my, I wouldn't do that if I were you. You have a bruised cheekbone, which is a pity for a face such as yours, but the bruise will fade after a few weeks."

Swinging her feet off of the bed, Karin said mischievously, "Well, you can expect me back for a checkup, Miss Retsu."

The nurse put a hand over her mouth, attempting to hide a smile. "You are welcome any time, Haru-kun."

When Karin neared the door, she saw Renji and Ginjou's faces peering in through the window, with awed expressions on their faces.

She made a threatening face at them, but winced as it pulled on the bruise.

They prepared for the irate patient to roar at them as soon as the hospital wing door had swung shut. But said victim to their plans stomped past them instead. Ginjou and Renji looked at each other, dismayed. Were they going to get the silent treatment?

Suddenly, Karin stopped and turned around. "What's the next bet?" Her voice was peeved, but at least it wasn't the silent treatment like they'd expected.

After he got over his shock, Ginjou grinned ran up to her and put her in a headlock, causing her to hiss in pain as his wrist bumped her bruised cheekbone. "Well, let's see, you've yet to finish the first bet, but seeing the nurse act the way she did, I think we can just pass on that one. so I think it'll be okay to set another bet, just in case you want another try." He looked over to Renji, who had caught up to Karin's other side. "What do you think, Renji? What should our cute Akimoto do when he loses next time?"

The 'cute Akimoto' said crossly, " _If_ I lose. Not _when_."

Renji guffawed, but didn't have any ideas as to what their 'cute Akimoto' should do.

"Well, you have eighteen flights worth of time to come up with something. Or I can do the second time around with nothing on the line." Karin said.

But even by the time they neared the eighteenth floor, the two boys still had not come up with anything. Karin stepped purposefully onto the eighteenth floor and looked triumphantly down at the two. "Well, I guess this means I don't have to do anything, eh?"

But they didn't look bothered at all, looking up at her.

"Not quite. See, we're still on the stairs. So we haven't reached the eighteenth floor yet." Renji reasoned.

Karin's eyes blazed, _very_ tempted to push the redhead down the stairs. If only Ginjou weren't a witness… Instead, she settled for verbal abuse. " _What?_ Okay, Abarai Renji, I admit you're sly with your words. In the future, I will make sure to fill up _every little_ loop hole for anything I say to you."

Renji laughed. "Good luck with that!" Then he thought of a good idea. "I got it! Clean up my room and the bathroom for a week!"

Ginjou looked at him resentfully. " _Your_ room? I would understand if it were _mine_ , but you fight him yourself if you want him to do your chores."

Cleaning Renji's room would be a horror. From what she could tell, Renji hadn't cleaned his room since he had first come to The Academy.

"I'll clean your room, Ginjou! _Anything_ but cleaning Renji's room!"

"What? Why?" Came Renji's plaintive voice.

Snorting, Ginjou said, "Have you _seen_ the pigsty you live in? Oh wait, you _live_ there." Turning to Karin, he said, "Alright. I'm only minimally better than Renji, but you'll have the honor of cleaning my room when you lose."

Gritting her teeth, Karin reminded him, " _If_ I lose. _If._ "

The next morning, her bruise on her cheek had turned absolutely _green_.

It hurt to brush her teeth. It hurt to talk. It hurt no matter what expression she made. It throbbed even when she stayed still. So even when her upperclassmen friends laughed their asses off at her at breakfast, she stayed silent. Stone-faced. It sill hurt during her physical training, though. Thankfully, it was a Sunday, so she was spared from Preceptor Tsukabishi's endless droning (they had now moved on from anatomy to social studies).

She could go to the shooting range and practice, even though she wasn't getting any better. No matter how many tips Izuru gave her, she just couldn't get the hang of it. Was it really because she had no talent? Would she really not make it to second year?

Clipping on the noise reducers once again, she loaded the handgun, and MK-446 this time, and carefully took aim at the hardest target.

"You really should start with the easier targets, you know."

…

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: For those of you who _do_ handle guns… I deeply apologize. That's all I can say. My deepest apologies for pretending to know things when I actually don't. *bows in apology*  
>  And I know Tousen does not have a scar across his eyes. But for the (rather small) purposes of this story, I put it there; there is no reiatsu in this story, and the students had to be like: "*le gasp* he's blind!" and I don't think blank eyes would cut it.
> 
> About the writing style: I experimented with the semiomni-3rd-characterPOV by putting in bits of other boys' point of POV, but I think I failed. Miserably. I don't think it works very well when the main character's gender/name is different from what the others perceive it to be. I had similar problem with the Spirit King in Re:Hollowfication as well.  
> No character profiles in this chapter, folks! I think I'm only going to make it for the growing kids every year from now on! ;)


	4. Mission 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: Not mine. Kubo Tite's.

**The Bodyguard**

Mission 4

…

He was past his black out point, he knew. He wouldn't remember a thing tomorrow.

The _kid_ was now shouldering him home, the corners of his uptight mouth turned down, in what he could only assume was displeasure.

The corners of his own mouth tugged up at this sight; well, he _was_ purposely being a pain-in-the-ass principle, after all. He made it his duty to chase off all of his bodyguards, by shaking them off with his unsavory behavior. Still, this bodyguard held out longer than the others. Well then, he would have to up the ante. He leaned heavily on his bodyguard, and heard a hiss of annoyance. His smile widened.

But then his nose twitched.

Through all the smell of alcohol, he could detect a faint scent of apple. The black hair, which had gone uncut for longer than a month , was now brushing around the slender neck that shouldered him. Maybe it was all the alcohol running in his veins causing certain thoughts to run amok in his head.

He slurred, "You should really cut your hair... ya know? "

"Why would you care?" was the caustic reply.

Why _did_ he care?

The answer was obvious.

"I don' wan' my se-curity… what was it? It was so long ago... Exec…? Well, I don… want, my _bodyguard_ to look… unkempt."

Actually, it was because he had thoughts of burying his head into the crook of the neck of a _fellow male_. It was official: he was off the charts for intoxication. He decided to drop off to sleep before he could think any more disturbing thoughts.

…

 _4 years ago_

….

"You really should start with easier targets, you know."

Karin didn't turn around. "Go away, Renji." As she made to put her headphones back on, Renji stopped her.

"Leave it. You won't use those on-field anyways."

Karin had to admit he had a point, so her hands switched directions from the noise reducers to the MP-446. But before she could grip the gun, Renji put a hand on her shoulder.

"Were your ears off on vacation when I said that you should start with 'easier targets?' As it is, you're just wasting bullets and time." He motioned towards the smaller and longer-distance targets that Karin was currently grappling with.

Pausing, Renji frowned. "Here I was, thinking that you were smart, but you actually don't know a thing about the basics of learning, do you?" Then, his frown turned into a smug smile that made Karin want to smack him. "I'll bet you were just able to do everything in one try, and got spoiled by it, right?" Renji crossed his arms and smirked. "So now that you can't do something, you're getting impatient with yourself."

No, she hadn't gotten everything without even trying. Karin had worked hard for everything. Soccer, all her martial arts, and even the cello, before she kicked it aside because she realized she had no musical talent. Maybe her body was a bit better suited for athletic activities than other people, but she'd worked damned hard to get all the muscle she had now.

Angrily, Karin shoved his hand off her shoulder and turned back to the target. She started to raise the gun, when Renji abruptly turned her around by her shoulders. Karin froze with her finger about to pull the trigger. Then she unfroze to engage the safety lock again and began to shout furiously at Renji.

"Are you effin' _crazy,_ Abarai Renji? I could have blown your face off!"

Renji just shrugged nonchalantly. "You didn't though, so no harm done." He said, and proceeded to push Karin over to the side of range.

Though Karin scowled and dug her heels into the floor stubbornly, her lighter weight stood no chance against his much heavier one. He wasn't much taller than her, so _why_ was the difference in their weight so large?

Before she knew it, she unwillingly stood in front of the easiest target, fifteen feet away. Renji gave Karin a push forward. "Go ahead, try."

She gave him a dirty look. Ignoring this, "The assistants go on about 'proper shooting stance' and so on, but you heard the first guy; in the end, you should be able to shoot from any position, so what stance you start off in doesn't really matter. And if you aren't satisfied with that, I'll fix your stance myself. Unlike that assistant, I have plenty of time on my hands."

Karin growled, "Don't you have _homework_ to catch up on, Abarai? You haven't finished that Nash Equilibrium assignment from Tsukabishi yet."

Renji spread his arms, the picture of good will. "What can I say. I'm just a nice guy. Now turn around and aim that gun at the target, you're making me nervous. You can take out your anger out on that target in the time you play word games with me."

Giving in, Karin turned towards the target and raised her gun. Taking a few seconds to aim, she shot at the target. It landed fairly close the center. Thinking it was a fluke, Karin raised her gun again and took another shot. It landed a little further from the center of the board.

Determined, she fired the rest of the fifteen rounds, and reloaded the gun. She prepared to shoot when Renji's hand adjusted her forearm from behind her. "You have to loosen this arm up." She heard the grimace in his voice as he felt the tightness in her arm muscles. "Jeez Haru, how have you been able to handle the backlash until now?"

Karin winced. It was true that her neck and shooting arm had been sore since she had started the firearm classes. But she didn't say that he was right; it would inflate Renji's ego as much as it would deflate her pride. But she loosened her arm nonetheless.

Finally, she was able to hit dead center of the first-level target.

Though Karin was secretly pleased at her progress, she still scowled when Renji started to clap and wipe an imaginary tear from his eye. He slung an arm over her shoulder, saying, "Now now, Haru. Let's not rush things. It's time for you and I to get some beauty sleep."

When Karin snorted derisively, Renji chortled. "Us men need our beauty sleep too." Prodding her now purple bruise, he said, "Especially you." Karin swiped his hand away, but put the shooting gear away and allowed him to drive her up the stairs.

From then on, Karin steadily improved. Assistants who had given her up as a lost cause were surprised when she started to actually hit the targets.

However, once she reached the 25-feet distance, Karin hit her learning curve. No matter how hard she tried, she couldn't get the bullseye of any target further than 25 feet away. The higher from 25 feet she got, the further away she hit from the center, until at 30 feet, she could only hit the target itself half the time, much less aim accurately.

Even Renji, who had spent countless hours trying to help her improve her aim, was stumped as to what she should do to improve.

All during Tessai's lecture about economics and its relation to the 'Executive Security Industry' Karin chewed on the end of her pencil, thinking futilely about what her block to shooting accurately was. Other kids could hit the thirty-mark without any trouble, and still others – like Izuru – hit the target dead on from even further distances.

Was her 20/15 vision just not good enough? But the other kids who just had 20/20 vision shot just fine. In fact, she could see the target just fine… It was just that, upon closer inspection, she always seemed to aim a little off the target, even though she could have sworn that she had aimed towards the bullseye.

Gin waved a hand in front of Karin's face. "Yoo-hoo~ Haru-kun~? Any one in?"

Karin was jolted from her mental training with the target. "Whuh?"

If the preceptor weren't smiling as usual, he would have looked almost worried. "Are ya sick? You can go to the infirmary if you want." His smile returned to its normal state. "Though I wouldn't suggest it. Retsu-san can be very… unwelcoming toward students she feel are faking illness just to skip class."

Shaking her head, Karin squared her shoulders and said, "I'm fine, sir. Please don't stop on my behalf."

So Gin went back to drawling about the pros and cons about fighting in a team of bodyguards.

Even during her martial arts training, Karin's mind was elsewhere, back at the targets down at the shooting range. For the first time, Izuru landed a blow on her during a Wing-chun sparring session. As Karin rubbed the arm that had taken the hit absently, Izuru peered at her worriedly. "Haru-kun. It won't do you any help if you dwell on firearms outside of class. I-in fact, your other subjects will suffer."

Figuring he was right, Karin forced her mind back onto the new jump they were learning.

One cold morning, Karin discovered that unlike Japanese high schools, their uniforms were issued for the whole year. They had to wear the same uniform for all four seasons: snow, rain, and heat. She had been noticing a chill in the mornings lately, before warming up during physical training.

When she complained about this, Renji had arched his brow sarcastically at her. "What did you expect? This is a training school. Winter or summer, bodyguards have to wear the same suit. Well, similar suits, anyways. There are actually thicker ones for winter and thinner ones for summer. Still, it's so-called practice."

"But when clients don't want to be obvious about being guarded, bodyguards disguise themselves as regular pedestrians." Karin pointed out.

Waving a hand impatiently, Renji said, "But you won't get clients like that all the time."

"So they intend for us to freeze to death." Karin said dully.

"Aw, it's not that bad."

So even when it began to rain, classes were not cancelled; even drenched in rain, they trained on. In order to ward off colds, Karin began to follow a strict diet of nutritious food; she followed the food pyramid to the tee, leaving out the dessert part at the tip.

She also put on several layers of clothes when she wasn't required to wear a uniform, and Preceptors Tsuakabishi and Gin started telling students that they could wear warmer clothing to their classes.

But Karin hadn't brought any long sleeved shirts, and didn't want to look ridiculous by wearing five t-shirts on top of each other and still clutching at her bare arms. Finally, Renji took pity on her and lent her a long sleeve shirt, which was slightly big for her. Adjusting the overlarge shirt and rolling up the sleeves, Karin resolved that she would one day fill in that shirt with her muscles.

Finally, winter came, and the weather outside became officially freezing. The temperature wandered somewhere between 5˚ and 10˚C. Some days, it even sleeted. Karin thanked her lucky stars that it hadn't hit the zeroes and it wasn't snowing… yet.

On the afternoon of the last Sunday in November, after a particularly cold and muddy session, Karin felt particularly depressed. Maybe she was suffering from seasonal affective disorder. She didn't want to even go down to the shooting range; she was on the verge on giving up on getting any better.

Though she was still one of the worst shots in class, in the most recent examination, she had escaped being dead-last, which had always gotten her points taken off. As of now, she thought she could just probably scrape by the probationary period, though she didn't know about graduating. She didn't want to think ahead that far.

Instead, she took a long, hot shower, without a care about raising any suspicion. After scraping and scrubbing _layers_ of mud off from her skin, she sat on her bed with her knees pulled to her chest. Even after the shower, she didn't feel one iota better.

She wanted to hear a voice, any familiar voice of someone who knew the _real_ Kurosaki Karin.

Truthfully, she longed to call her siblings, who were probably just as depressed as she was right now. But then again, maybe they had given her up for dead, and were recovering from their mourning. Her father wouldn't give up so easily though, which was a pity, because he was the last person she wanted to hear from right now.

She pulled out her cell phone. When she flicked it open, there was only one number in there. Ikkaku.

Maybe his voice would cheer her up.

So she called him. It rang. Again. And again. And again. 'He's probably checking the number and where it was from. Finally after five rings, he picked up.

" _Who are you and how did you get this number?"_ Asked the gruff voice.

Karin smiled when she heard his voice, even if it was unfriendly and disgruntled. "As friendly as ever, aren't you?" said Karin, amused.

There was a pause. Then Ikkaku exclaimed, _"Karin!"_

"I told you, it's _Haru_." Karin said in a warning tone. She didn't know who could be listening, and whether there was a phone tap on either line.

Ikkaku's impatient sigh sounded from the other line. _"Alright,_ Haru _. What the hell took you so long to call? I was starting to think that you'd dropped off the face of earth."_

"Sorry Ikaku." Karin apologized sheepishly. "I've just been so caught up in settling in…"

She heard a disbelieving snort. _"Sure. It takes three months to 'settle in' does it?"_

It took Karin a while to appease her offended friend, but in the end, all Ikkaku needed was assurance that she was okay in 'The Jungle,' amongst all those 'animals.' Karin assured him that she was, leaving out the part of her having trouble with her shooting. It would sound too much like whining. But she did tell him about her suitemate and friends.

After continuing on this vein for a while, Ikkaku abruptly said, _"Oh, and there are tons of articles about your disappearance. In fact, now it's past the articles of the gun-head paparazzi. Once your disappearance was leaked by one of your countless maids and manservants, your father gave up on secrecy and instead posted rewards, with your face blown up next to it. It's even come out on TV."_

So it had come to that. Karin shifted uncomfortably. "Well, I've changed… appearances and stuff, so there shouldn't be any problems."

" _I'm just telling you to be careful. There are plenty of kids in The Academy bribing the teachers to smuggle them magazines."_

So _that_ was how Renji had found out. Karin hastily changed the subject. "By the way, Ikkaku, was Preceptor Tsukabishi here when you attended this place?"

" _Tsukabishi? That overgrown raccoon is still there? Isn't it high time he retired?"_

Karin laughed.

About ten minutes later, feeling much more cheerful after hearing her mentor and friend's voice, Karin smiled and shut her cell phone with a clap. Sighing contentedly, she flumped back onto the bed. It had been a long since time since the thinness of the mattress had stopped bothering her.

"You look happy. Who were you talking to? A girlfriend?"

Karin almost fell off the bed in surprise. As it was, she had smashed her knee into the wall, hard. Grimacing and rubbing her knee, Karin groaned, "Shit, Renji. Do me a favor and make some noise next time."

Renji raised an eyebrow. "Well, 'protective officers' have to be stealthy, don't they?" Karin noted with annoyance that he didn't say 'yes.' That meant that he would sneak up on her again. Renji came into the room, and Karin saw that he was shirtless for the umpteenth time. The disturbing thing was, she'd already long gotten used to seeing Renji with a naked torso. That's how he was half the time, after all.

As he sat down cross-legged on the floor leaning back on the bed, Karin saw the tribal tattoos in the shape of wings on his back again.

"Hey, Renji. I've been meaning to ask this for a while now, but what's with those tattoos on your back? Are they just to look cool, or is there any meaning to them?"

Putting a hand over his shoulder, Renji touched his shoulder blade, where part of the tattoo was situated.

"This? I got this when I decided to become strong enough to protect Kurosaki Karin."

Briefly, Karin's eyes flickered over to Renji. She decided to ask him something that had been nagging at her for a while. "How _did_ you meet Kurosaki Karin, anyway?" She didn't remember.

Renji stretched out on the floor. After a long silence, he said, "I mentioned I used to live in the slums when I was a kid, right?"

Though she knew that Renji couldn't see, Karin rolled her eyes. "How could I forget? You told me _ever so gently_ , along with just a few punches."

Without a trace of embarrassment about their brawling spat several months before, Renji said, "Well, when I first saw her, she was being harassed by a bunch of kids who noticed how nicely she was dressed. They were going to steal everything, _from a four-year old._ " He growled the last part.

' _So that's what happened.'_ Karin finally started to remember.

For most of her life, Karin had sported a semi-tomboy style she had maintained until she had come to The Academy. Now, she dressed completely like a boy, from the loose shirt to basketball shorts. No j-rock pretty-boy looks for her. She had to give in over 9000% effort to look as masculine as possible. But before her mother had passed away, she had liked to dress her and Yuzu up in expensive dollish dresses. It was small wonder kids in a poor neighborhood had tried to rob her. (kuhuhuhu... 'over 9000')

"So you protected her." She said quietly.

"Yeah, I did." Renji sounded rather surprised. "But how did you know that?"

Karin blinked and just realized her mistake. Hastily, she supplied, "Idiot. Anyone could have seen that coming. If you'd found a little girl cornered by a gang, with your personality, of course you'd help her."

"Oh." Renji said stupidly, before continuing on, "Anyways, the gallant man I was," Karin snorted, and the red-head glared at her. "–okay. The gallant young _boy_ I was at the age of six, I heroically swept in and defeated the whole gang for her."

"No embellishments." Karin told him sternly.

Making a face, Renji said sullenly, "Alright, you ass. I just grabbed her hand and ran for it like a bat out of hell, happy?" Karin found that much more believable. "Well, we eventually found her family again – worried to death, I might add – and she somehow explained that I'd saved her…" He trailed off.

After waiting, Karin prodded, "…and then?"

"Then she held out her hand to me. To a grubby, dirty street kid." His voice sounded thick, as if he were trying to keep himself from crying. "She smiled the sweetest, most angelic smile, and she took my hand."

The following pause was the longest one yet. All Karin heard was their breathing. His slow and deep, hers rather fast and shallow. When Renji spoke once more, his voice had returned to its normal tone. "Well, then we went to her father's limo, took me to their home, cleaned me up, and found an orphanage for me. I think Karin wanted to keep me, but someone didn't think that was wise." Karin felt indignant on his behalf, but he plowed on, "Karin was crying when I was leaving. That was when I resolved to become her bodyguard, so she wouldn't shed another tear."

He voice sounded way more resolved than other sixteen-year-olds.

"…Why the wing shape, then?" Karin asked.

"…It sounds cheesy."

This made Karin curious. "C'mon, I won't laugh. Tell me."

"…"

Karin nudged him with her foot. "Go on. Why?"

"They're in the shape of wings… well…" Renji looked rather embarrassed. "Because I wanted to become her guardian angel, I guess."

He was right: it _did_ sound cheesy. But the meaning was clear.

Karin swallowed and looked away. There had been someone who cherished her so much from a distance, and she hadn't even known.

"Anyways, if we meet again, I'm sure I will recognize her." After a paused, he added quietly, "I'm sure she'd recognize me."

When Karin heard this, she felt absolutely miserable.

Abruptly, she sat up in bed and said as lightly as possible, "Hey, I think it's almost time for lunch. Let's stop by Izuru's room on the way down."

As they headed down, Karin thought, _'Sorry, Renji. For not knowing what I meant in your life. For hiding in plain sight. For not recognizing you.'_

Calling Ikkaku had only helped for a brief moment. Once again, Karin was depressed… this time from guilt.

After lunch, Karin didn't go up with the rest of her friends. She stopped by the edge of the stairs and waved them on.

"Why, aren't you going to come up with us?" Renji asked.

"Nah, I want to train again."

Her friends looked at her as if she had grown another head. "On a Sunday?" Ginjou said incredulously.

"I'll go train with you." Izuru was stuttering less these days. He seemed to volunteer only because it was Karin; for anyone else, he could have cared less.

But Karin wanted to be alone. "Nah, you're too clean to roll in the mud with me. Besides, I kinda wanted to be alone."

Keigo slapped her back. "That's our resident genius Haru, good at everything except shooting. A genius always stands alone and misunderstood." He said rather insensitively. "Why didn't you become a martial artist instead? You're much better at other physical activities than shooting."

Elbowing Keigo in the ribs, Mizuiro asked, "Something on your mind, Haru? Is there anything we can do to help?"

Smiling at Mizuiro's concern, Karin nonetheless waved him off. "Nah. Nothing much. Just a little homesick." Which was half true; she missed her siblings, anyhow.

Ginjou left with a, "Don't worry about the shooting. You'll improve over time." This time, he showed much more confidence in what he was saying.

If only Karin could feel as confident. But her issue of shooting was taking a backseat to her problem concerning Renji. Staying in the same area as him was stifling. She couldn't bear to face him. Not once she realized the true intensity of his feelings towards the identity she had cast aside. Not until she worked off her stress.

So Karin went to the training area, to train again. It didn't matter if she became miserably muddy again. That could be fixed. It didn't matter that it felt like the sky poured buckets of ice-cold water on her. That wouldn't last.

But not her changed identity.

It was always possible to switch back to Kurosaki Karin, but that meant returning to her father's oppressive presence. And no matter how harsh it sounded, she certainly didn't like her suitemate enough to sacrifice her lifelong dream for him.

With renewed vigor, she went through the exercise patterns again, whirling in snake-style, jump-kicking in crane-style, and gripping at air in tiger-style.

She was halfway through reviewing Taekkyon when her exercise-heightened senses detected Preceptor Gin approach. Pausing in her drill, Karin turned around to face him, rain drumming against her body. She bowed, the customary greeting for preceptors. Once she straightened, Karin suppressed a giggle at the sight of his childishly flower-patterned umbrella and matching rainboots.

Keeping a straight face, Karin asked, "What brings you out here in this weather, Preceptor Gin?"

As usual, Gin wore a smile reminiscent of a cat that had just stolen a meaty fish from right under a fisherman's nose.

"I could ask the same of you, Haru-kun."

Karin lowered her eyes. "As you can see, I've been training, sir."

Gin cocked his head. "But why? From what I hear from the martial arts teachers, you're an outstanding student. You've already nearly caught up to the second years."

This surprised her so much she didn't realize that the slur of Gin's dialect had nearly faded in the last sentence. "Do I stand out that much?"

"Yeap." Gin stated, straight and simple. "That, and I've been keeping tabs on you for a while now."

Karin frowned, confused, then wary. Had he caught wind of her gender?

Smile stretching, Gin remarked, "Don't be so guarded, Haru-kun. I'm just the same as the other teachers. I see your potential. Except you're working a little _too_ hard, ya know? It's okay to relax a little." He looked her over and said, "You've also grown a bit; the uniform may even be a bit small for you. It always surprises me, how much boys can grow in just three months."

Without a care for getting wet, contrary to what his appearance suggested, he stretched out and held out the umbrella over her. "Ya should be gettin' in now. It's gettin' dark."

He was already drenched. Seeing this, Karin couldn't not go back in. Gently pushing the umbrella back over the preceptor, Karin followed him in.

Once they reached inside of the complex, Karin grimaced as she looked down at the puddles and mud they were leaving behind them.

As Gin waved at her and turned to leave, he tossed back to her, "Oh, and fifty points for training on a Sunday, in this freezing rain. Brrr."

That left Karin dripping all over the floor, staring after the mysterious preceptor.

As they hit the third month mark and neared the end of the semester, they held practice tests for all their classes.

Gin held a simulation test for his class. "Now, I'll separate ya'll into your groups and decide whether to have ya be the teams of executive protectors or a group of assassins. Remember all the tips I gave ya on working in teams. And as for ya executive protectors, I'll assign one of ya to be the principle. And principle, I'm warning ya, no helping. Ya can even be a difficult principle if you want - in fact, I encourage it - but no helping. The assistants or I will be watching ya guys."

So he divided the class by their seats into teams, so Karin ended up with her friends. "Aight, Haru-kun, Izuru-chan, and ya three," he motioned vaguely towards Ginjou, Renji, and Luppi. "Ya'll will be executive protectors, working on the fourth floor. Your principle…" his scanned the group. Karin saw the slits of his eyes open and his light blue pupils settle on her. "…will be Haru-kun."

Extremely disappointed, Karin followed her 'bodyguards' down to the desk where they each picked up an airsoft gun. She was already terrible at using guns, but she wouldn't even be able to practice. Had Preceptor Gin known about her weakness and made her the principle on purpose? But maybe it was for the better; she would probably only hold her team back.

Their group assigned to 'assassinate' her was Keigo and the rest of their crew.

"Your ace, Haru, is gone~" Keigo taunted.  
"Yeah, your best fighter has to take a backseat."

"Well, even without our best martial artist, we're more than a match for you." Luppi shot back.

Karin winced inwardly at the phrase 'best fighter,' and 'best martial artist.' Those seemed to drive in the stake that silently labeled her as a 'terrible marksman' even more.

As each group used an entire floor level as their test area. Gin borrowed some of Tousen's assistants to patrol every floor; in the end, due to her teammates' quick thinking, Karin was safely 'protected' and all the assassins were 'taken care of.'

The rest of her practice tests went smoothly. As Preceptor Gin had noted, Karin had very nearly caught up with the second years in her martial arts, and she did well with all her other grades… except for one.

Assistant Hisagi Shuuhei smashed his fist down against his desk.

"Oi, Akimoto! You know what it means for people to know your name from over a hundred students?" Karin winced. "It means that you're either very good, or _absolutely terrible_ at that subject! _And which one do you think it is for this subject?_ " He hit the desk with each word in the last sentence, for more emphasis.

Hanging her head. Karin whispered, "The latter, Hisagi-san."

"That's right, but knowing that won't get you a passing grade! You're so great at all your other classes, but why are you so terrible at this one? Sure, you know how to assemble just about any gun, but what's the point if you can't shoot one? You're crawling at the bottom of the class in the practicals!"

Leaning closer to Karin, Shuuhei hissed in a low voice, "The preceptors in _every other subject_ have been going on about you being a genius and that you'll be able to graduate a year early… but the most important part of being a bodyguard is knowing how to shoot a firearm. If you don't do well in this class, don't even _expect_ to pass the probationary period, much less graduate a year early."

Karin swallowed; the shooting class was the only roadblock to being able to pass the probationary period, as well as graduate with her friends.

The roadblock to becoming a bodyguard.

Shuuhei continued, "I'm not expecting you to be a sharpshooter, but the least you can do is put in some effort."

About to open her mouth to say that she _was_ putting in effort, Karin stopped. Karin didn't dare say it; that was as good as admitting she didn't have any right to be a bodyguard.

Raising his voice to a more normal volume, Shuuhei said, "You have until the next exam to improve by at least ten feet, and _then_ you'll stand a chance at passing your probationary period."

Over the course of the next few weeks, no matter how hard she tried, Karin just couldn't get any closer to hitting the thirtieth-mark. Frustrated, Karin slammed the noise-cancelling headphones back onto its hanger. On her way out, she saw a particular target that made her freeze.

The numerous bullet-holes made a very precise 'x.'

She had a terrible urge to go over and rip out the target and stomp on it, but she squashed that particular urge and just continued to stomp out.


	5. Mission 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: Not mine. Kubo Tite's.

**The Bodyguard**

Mission 5

…

"Will you take the job? He's a handful, but you're the nearest to his age; he might let his guard down…"

Looking into her employer's face, Karin realized he was pleading with her. Alarmed that he would do such a thing, she hurriedly bowed and said, "Of course I will accept the job."

Immediately, her employer's face relaxed, and sighing with relief, he slumped back in his executive chair. Massaging his temples, he said gratefully, "Thank you, Akimoto-kun. You have no idea how grateful I am right now."

His face gained a hint of mirth as he added, "Now I can rest in peace."

Karin stifled a laugh. It wouldn't do for her to laugh in front of her employer, even if it was at his intended joke. Managing to keep a straight face, she answered, "My pleasure, sir."

Swiveling his chair towards the window, her employer said quietly, "I doubt you'll say that when you meet him."

…

 _3 ½ years ago_

…

When the temperature fell below zero and it started snowing, all the students dreaded going outside to train. Especially Karin.

"Renji…" she croaked out from her bed one morning.

From the other room on his own bed, Renji groaned back, "Whaaat…"

"How many days do we get off?" Karin asked. "Please don't say 'none.'"

"Then I damn well can't say anything." Renji replied grumpily. "Besides, if there _were_ any, I'd have used them all up already."

They slugged through all the snowy mornings. When they trained through blizzards, any fond memories that Karin had of snow back when she had played with Ichigo and Yuzu were blown clean away.

While sparring, they talked (or rather, shouted over the winds) to keep each other conscious.

"Y'know, this is so cool!" Karin yelled sarcastically during a particular Taekkyon practice, jumping to avoid Izuru's leg sweep.

"And how so? I don't think this is cool at all, Haru-kun!" Izuru retorted as he executed a low kick to block Karin's strike to his knee. He completely missed her sarcasm; he never seemed to be good at detecting those. If not, then his sense of humor had increased drastically, in a bad way.

"Well, this is _great_ weather for one!" Karin dumped even more sarcasm into that statement.

He shouted back, "Oh really? We're being snowed on!"

Despite how numb and slippery the weather had made her hands, Karin managed to take hold of Izuru and successfully throw him over her shoulder into a rapidly increasing mound of snow.

Of all the understatements of the century, that had to be the biggest. The use of the phrase 'snowed on' in this situation was like referring to a hurricane as a 'breeze.' They were basically fighting in a blender full of snow that they could barely _see_ in, much less _fight_ in.

After about two hours in that hellish weather, even the martial arts preceptors decided they'd had enough and had come to conclusion that it was impossible to fight for six whole consecutive hours in it without getting frostbitten.

Karin didn't think it was possible to get more miserable than they were now. She was wrong. Once inside, the students felt even worse. Now they were cold and wet and they could _feel_ it, as they were in a warmer environment with no freezing winds to numb them.

Renji's teeth chattered. "Wh-what's w-w-with the w-weather th-this y-ear?"

Ginjou managed back, "H-h-haven't you h-hur-heard of c-climate ch-ange?"

"I thought th-that was ca-lled g-global warming! You c-call _this_ warmer?"

Karin thought it was a miracle she didn't get sick, when all of her friends did. She took to sitting far, very far, apart from them at meal times.

"Why are you sitting ober dere?" That was Ganju, with a stuffy nose.

"If you stopped to listen to your own voice, you would understand!" Karin cried from all the way down the table.

Renji indicated the seat beside him with his chopsticks. "Don't worry little guy. I'm not sick." Indeed he wasn't. Yet.

Too wary of getting infected, Karin didn't even bother to point out that she was now just a bare centimeter shorter than him, and that 'little guy' was hardly an appropriate nickname for her. Instead, she shook her head vehemently. "No! I'm fine here, thanks all the same."

"Aw, c'mon! I'm your suitemate! We use the same bathroom, for Christ's sake."

"And that's _precisely_ why I don't want to spend any more time with you than I have to, _especially_ during mealtimes. That's when you're most likely to get sick! You'll appreciate it if _I_ get sick. Then I'll have spared _you_ from the flu."

And she was right to have stayed away from Renji; he fell sick the next day.

The infirmary teemed with people who were likewise sick. A few tried to sneak in, thinking that they could use it as an excuse to skip classes. But the nurse chased away the people faking sickness, all while wearing what seemed like an angelic smile.

December dragged on to January, and finally in February, the weather let up a bit.

Karin's last hair cut had been when the school had called a barber for the boys. That was several months ago, so her hair had grown out significantly. And the boys noticed. During one meal, Keigo peered at Karin closely.

"Hey, doesn't Haru look a bit like Kurosaki Karin?"

Karin stiffened her hand to keep from dropping her chopsticks. Swallowing nervously, she tried her best to look indignant. "Hey! Are you saying I look like a girl?"

All the boys turned to look at her.

"Er, well…"  
"I mean…"  
"…You kinda do…  
"Yes. You look like a pretty-boy. The gentle term for 'girly.'" Luppi said, with a finality that left nothing else to be said. If even the vain Luppi thought Karin looked like a girl…

There was a long silence as Karin tried not to panic when everybody squinted long and hard at her face. Trying inconspicuously to shrink back into her uniform, she began to eat, hoping that her exaggerated chewing would distort her face beyond recognition if she did. Even though her face would have likely changed a bit over the course of over half a year, every hardcore gunhead would know 'Kurosaki Karin's' face. Curse her father and his penchant for showing off his "perfect" family and their "perfect" life…

To her immense relief, Renji snorted and shoveled a large amount of brown rice into his mouth. "He looks nothing like her." Grains of rice flew out of his mouth as he spoke, most of them landing on Keigo's face. "Oops. Sorry Kei. And also," he waved his chopsticks over at Karin, (who winced as a bit of rice landed in front of her) "Karin has blue eyes, but look, Haru's are brown." He too, looked at her. "I think."

Their friends returned to their food. If a 'specialist' like Renji said that she didn't look at all like Kurosaki Karin, then people would take his word for it.

But Karin still remained on guard.

From then on, she took care to wake up at the crack of dawn to put in her colored contacts, and go back to sleep again to be kicked awake as usual by Renji. On the not-so-rare occasion she overslept, she took care not to look at Renji as she stumbled to the bathroom.

Then the physical changes came.

Renji shook her awake. "Oi. Get up. Ginjou's waiting for us outside."

Karin groaned into her pillow and said in a muffled voice, "Go on ahead without me. I'm not feeling so hot."

Looking confused, Renji asked, "And not eat breakfast? It'll be hard to last through the training hours without _some_ grub. You sick or something?"

Forgetting she hadn't put in her contacts that morning, Karin half turned her face out of the pillow and glared at Renji with a hard dark-blue eye. "Go. Ahead. Without me." She buried her face back into the pillow.

Looking back at the figure on his bed, Renji frowned. He could have sworn that his suitemate's eyes had been blue in that moment…

After she heard the door shut behind him, Karin struggled to sit up. She already knew what her 'illness' was.

Yuzu had gone through it several years ago, and Karin had been dreading it as it surely came for all woman-kind. And now, it had finally arrived.

But she hadn't known that it would be this painful. She had expected tiredness and mild cramps, not bone-weariness and excruciating abdominal pain. She'd heard that the 'discomfort' between females varied from 10 as in extreme, and 0 as in none. Right now, through a pain-hazed mind, she pinpointed her level at about 15. Wasn't the crankiness supposed to come _before_ the period? She felt the crankiness _now._

Karin was a late developer; Yuzu, her twin, had begun her menstrual cycle at the age of eleven. It came to Karin at the late age of almost fifteen.

"…Damnit…"

Eventually, Karin crawled out of bed and pulled on her uniform, arriving at the training ground just in time.

She grit her teeth and trained through the pain. But in the fourth hour of physical training while sparring against Renji in naginata practice, Karin felt a particularly sharp pain to her abdomen and faltered. She barely avoided being skewered by Renji's attack, but she still sustained a wound on her right arm.

Surprised, Renji's glaive clattered to the ground and he looked aghast.

"Haru! Shit, why didn't you block – "

Immediately, the preceptor was at Karin's side. "What's wrong, Akimoto?"

Karin tried to stem the blood from her forearm. "N-nothing sir. I just lost my concentration for a moment." The blood dripped through her fingers. The cut was deeper than she initially thought.

Despite the fact that his quickest-learning student was injured, the preceptor was as strict as usual. "Five points off for losing focus, and be grateful that the wound isn't worse. If this was on the field, you would have lost your life as well as your principle's." He then let a bit of worry leak into his face, as he examined her arm. "That's your dominant arm, isn't it? You should have it stitched up in the infirmary."

Seeing that she was about to open her mouth to protest, the preceptor ordered firmly, "Go, before I take more points off for disobeying the man in charge."

Reluctantly, Karin left for the infirmary. But she _had_ a legitimate reason to continue. On the field, bodyguards had the obligation to fight to protect their principle even when injured; they had to have the resolve to even die for their principle. And besides, her dominant arm wasn't her right arm; it was actually the left.

The reason why she automatically used her right hand for everything was because she had gotten accustomed to using her right when she was young; she had seen her older brother do things that way and imitated him. She had wanted to be strong, like Ichigo.

Arriving at the infirmary, Karin swung the door open. She saw the the nurse Retsu tidying things up. When Retsu looked up, Karin raised her left hand in sheepish greeting. "Um. Hi, Miss Retsu."

When the nurse Retsu saw Karin's right arm dripping with blood, her smile became rather fixed. Karin got the impression she wanted to purse her lips and throttle her instead.

The arm got anesthetized, stitched up, and bandaged. But when the nurse was about to put it in a sling, Karin requested, "Can I just go around without the sling? It'll get in the way of my traini – " her words stopped in her throat when she saw Retsu's smile; though sweet, it seemed almost… well. dangerous. While Karin was trying to remember what she was trying to say, the nurse finished tying the sling.

"You were saying?" The nurse's smile turned even sweeter and even more dangerous. Preceptor Gin was right. The nurse _was_ scary.

Maybe a sling wasn't so bad an idea after all. At least, compared to whatever the nurse's smile promised in store for patients who unwisely chose not to listen. Nervously, Karin said, "N-nothing, Miss Retsu. I-I'll be off to my class now."

She inched out of the hospital wing, not daring to look back at the smiling nurse who was radiating killing energy.

Lunch had finished by the time she had escaped from the clinic. After going up to gather her textbooks, wincing with every step that jostled her arm, she met up with her friends at Tessai's class. When Renji saw his suitemate balancing all the textbooks with her uninjured arm, he hastily took them from her. Karin made a token protest, but gave in when she saw his irritated look.

"What's wrong with you today? First you don't eat breakfast, then you get injured?" Renji snarled. He really showed his worry in odd, rather contrary ways; by blaming the person he was worried for. And Karin didn't want to put up with it that day; she had started her period and was achey to the max, she had missed both breakfast _and_ lunch, and on top of that, her arm was injured. Her _shooting_ arm.

So she just took it out on Renji, who had bitched at her first.

"Shut up." Karin snapped back. "I'm not in the mood to deal with your bullshit."

Ignoring the pain in her arm, Karin snatched her textbooks back from Renji and slammed them down on a random desk.

Her friends looked on, taken aback by her irascible behavior. All through Tsukabishi's lecture, when they would usually have been sleeping with open eyes (like Ginjou), or snoring outright (like Renji), they instead kept shooting Karin furtive looks.

During his lecture, Gin paused when he walked by and saw Karin's arm. For the first time she had met him, his smile turned into a look of surprise.

"Oh? Haru-kun, did ya hurt yourself?"

Shifting slightly in a futile effort to hide her right arm, Karin said quickly, "It's nothing, sir."

Gin opened his pale blue eyes and studied her face. Whatever he saw made him sigh and smile regretfully. "Well, if ya say so…" he then continued his lecture.

Contrary to what one would think, it was at dinner that Karin resented her arm injury the most. She hadn't held chopsticks with her left hand since she was very little. So she had to relearn everything from scratch. But with her hunger, it didn't take her long to reach a fair level of proficiency using chopsticks. If all else failed, she could just stab the food with her chopsticks and gnaw at it.

The next day, Shuuhei was taken aback when he saw the state of Karin's arm. "Akimoto! How can you practice shooting now?"

Karin met his gaze squarely. "I will work with my left hand. Won't that be better? On the field, I could get injured when I'm protecting my principle, so I'll just think of this as future preparation."

Seeing the resolve in her eyes, Shuuhei sighed.

Truthfully, Karin had thought that using her right hand to pull the trigger instead of her left could have been what had hindered her progress. Why hadn't she thought of it before?

Experimentally, Karin hefted a colt anaconda in her left hand. It seemed to fit more snugly that any other gun had in her right, and it wasn't even a left-handed gun; The Academy only stocked up on ambidextrous models. She shot with her left hand, and bit back a grimace when the aftershock hit her left arm. After five rounds, the skin on her thumb felt nonexistent.

In a day or two, Karin adjusted and began to shoot fairly accurately with her single left hand. Though every firearm practical session it left her left thumb feeling very raw, her distance accuracy got much better. Everybody was surprised when Karin shot more accurately with her left hand when her trigger hand had been her right.

She improved at a rapid rate; for the next least three yards, at least.

When Karin reached her eleventh yard, she found that once more couldn't hit the center. She dismissed it as her left arm being sore, as she had only just started shooting single handedly.

Two weeks passed and the soreness from shooting with one hand had long faded. Karin discovered she had again reached the limit of her learning. She hadn't improved at all from what she had attained the first day of using her left hand to shoot.

Though Shuuhei had been surprised when he saw that Karin could hit the target so well with her left hand, he knew that it still wasn't enough for her to pass the probationary year. He told Karin privately, "Look, I'll lay the situation bare for you. The first-years this time around are _good._ And the cutoffs for passing are based on the average level of the probationers. You may be able to use both hands, but I can guarantee it won't be enough to make up for your shooting distance of barely ten-yards. Using your non-dominant hand to shoot is optional even in third year, so it doesn't apply with passing probation. The average probationer this year can shoot at least sixteen yards. You need to match that to pass the probationary period. Otherwise, you just won't make it."

Though she had expected that, Karin felt her heart plummet at the thought. She clenched her fists.

' _I can't go back.'_ She thought desperately. _'Not back to that cold mansion.'_

Walking away, Shuuhei looked back at her pityingly.

Karin didn't miss that look.

But as she continued to practice, Karin eventually despaired. It had taken her almost five months for her to reach ten yards. But to pass, she needed sixteen yards. Six more yards. Eighteen more feet.

That night, Renji glanced at his digital clock: it read 01:53.

His suitemate still hadn't returned.

Swinging his legs off the bed, Renji picked up a random shirt from the ground and grabbed his keys.

' _I'll probably find him at the shooting range.'_

But when Renji reached the basement, it was dark, as if no one were there.

Just in case, he flipped a switch, and one by one, the lights flickered to life. He didn't see anyone at first and was about to turn off the lights once again, when he saw a figure huddled in the corner, head in hands. Everything from the loose clothes and the now shaggy dark hair indicated it was his suitemate.

"Haru?"

The figure gave no sign of having heard. Renji went over to where the figure sat.

"Oi," He nudged his suitemate with a foot.

Though the kid didn't even look up to acknowledge Renji's presence, this time there _was_ an answer.

"What."

Even if it was just a single word.

Putting his hands into his pockets, Renji said, "You're not even practicing. Why aren't you coming up?" He noted that his suitemate no longer had the sling on; he supposed that it had gotten released after dinner. But the arm was still bandaged, hanging heavily against the ground; it still didn't have enough strength to support itself for long periods of time.

"Since when have you waited for me? Nine times out of ten, by the time I arrive you're snoring. The other tenth is when I go back with you."

Cheeks reddening, Renji retorted, "Not always." He sat down as well. After some time, he asked, "Is it because of firearms practical?"

"Why do you ask such obvious questions?" was the flat reply.

Why was his suitemate so pessimistic? Renji tried another tactic. "Why don't you just relax?"

"Are we playing Twenty Questions now?

That did it.

Renji jumped up and hauled his suitemate up with him. "Why won't you just trust me and let it all out? Why are you shouldering everything? What are friends for? Aren't we friends?"

Finally looking Renji straight in the eye, Karin said, "If you're my friend, then just let me deal with this by myself."

Staring at Karin in disbelief, Renji shoved her away. "Fine. Have it your way. Just don't come whining to me about it afterwards." He stalked out of the shooting range, and she heard his footsteps echo up the stairs.

Once his footfalls had faded, Karin looked at the wall of weapons. She reached out and just picked out a random handgun – a Ruger – and matching clips from the bin below it. Going over to the eleven-yard target, she raised her gun and fired.

As always, she missed the center. It just went to the right. She fired again, until the clip ran out of rounds. Not one hit the target. She put in another clip, but it was useless.

Yelling in frustration, Karin threw down the gun. A hand picked it up.

Without looking up, Karin said loudly, I thought I told you to go away."

"Oh?"

Karin froze. The voice didn't belong to Renji. She whirled around.

It was a black-haired boy who looked older than her. Maybe about seventeen or eighteen. He started twirling the gun in his hands like it was a pencil.

Narrowing her eyes, Karin asked, "Who are you?"

He stopped twirling the gun and looked curiously over her shoulder, at the target. He observed, "You're a poor marksman."

Karin's face darkened with anger at his blunt statement. Maybe the assistants had told her off and humiliated her by saying she couldn't shoot a gun to save her life, not to mention others, but her friends had never said she was bad to her face. Who was he to criticize her?

But instead of looking at her, he was examining the gun. "Hmm. A Ruger Blackhawk." Suddenly, he aimed the gun at Karin. She barely had time to widen her eyes before a sharp wind grazed her cheek and the bullet whistled by her cheek.

When she had recovered her speech, she shouted, "What the _fucking hell_ was that for?"

He shot a pointed look over her shoulder, and Karin followed his gaze over to the target.

"For that." He said simply.

There was a new hole, dead center on the target.

Turning around to face the boy again, Karin snarled, "So what? You yourself said that I'm a poor marksman. _Anyone_ can beat me."

Unperturbed, he stared into her eyes before his gaze slid over to the target. "Oh. So that's it."

At some point or another, his face had gotten unnervingly close to hers, but Karin held her ground. On the contrary, she shoved her face even closer to his; his eyes were blue, she noted.

" _What's_ it? Have you miraculously found out why my aim is so bad or something?"

He leaned back on his heels, looking bored. "Actually, yes, I have."

At Karin's incredulous look, he lazily raised a finger towards the target. "All of your shots are off to the right." He glanced at her bandaged right arm. "I suppose it's because you're using your left arm." Lowering his arm, he looked back lackadaisically at Karin's face. "Even if you have perfect vision, as long as you're putting something on the surface of your eyes, your vision of things in the distance will warp."

Abruptly, he turned away. "If what you have on are corrective contacts, I don't know how you entered this school, but you'd better give up this line of work. But if they're just colored lenses just to hide a… unique color… then I suggest you take them off, at least while you're practicing your shooting." As he walked away, he tossed the Ruger over his shoulder back to Karin, leaving her alone in the shooting range.

It was only after he had left that Karin realized that he hadn't even told her his name.

The next day, Renji acted as if nothing had happened the night before, even though Karin thought that he seemed a bit shorter of temper than usual. Privately, Karin was glad that he wasn't still upset over it. He didn't seem like the type to get hung up over things anyways.

Karin sat at her desk looking down at the homework that Tessai had assigned, but not seeing it. Her mind wandered elsewhere.

Was the boy right?

Did the problem really lie with her contacts?

If so, then she had no choice but to take them off. Problem was, now that her close cropped hair had began to grow back, her eye color was the only concrete evidence she had that she wasn't 'Kurosaki Karin.' If her eyes suddenly turned blue, then Renji (and thus, the others) might start suspecting her.

She would have to compromise.

That night, once Karin heard Renji's snores and clear from her room, she took off her brown contacts and silently went down to the shooting range. She turned on the lights and blinked at the sudden brightness. Then she crossed over to the wall that hung heavy with weapons.

Despite Renji's stern lecture of starting with easier things first still ringing in her ears, that just wasn't Karin's style. She chose one of the hardest handguns to shoot with: the 500 Smith & Wesson.

With her left hand, she leveled the handgun at the fifteen-meter target. Without hesitating, she fired.

Staring at the target, Karin had to fight to swallow her shock.

The bullet had punched dead center.

She had to make sure that it was an accident or fluke. She emptied the remaining rounds into the target. They all hit near, if not on, the center. Dumbly, Karin lowered the gun.

To make absolutely sure, Karin tried as many handguns she could. Though the grip varied from gun to gun, she had learned more or less how to fire each one; they all landed somewhere in the center of the target.

She had done it.

"I did it…" Karin breathed.

After the fact had sunken in, Karin broke out into excitement; exhilarated, she fist-pumped and shouted, "I did it! I did it! _I did it!_ " Face hardening, Karin stared down at the gun in her hand. "See that, Pops?" she said. "I won't have to go back to you now. Nothing, short of death, can stop me now."

Everyday after that night, Karin went down to practice, reaching up to a shooting range of twenty-five yards. In exchange, she came back to sleep late at night. _Really_ late.

Over the course the next few weeks, Karin's friends eyed her steadily deepening dark circles. One morning, Ginjou stated baldly, "Gee. You look like shit."

Glaring half-heartedly at her older friend, Karin said dryly, "Thank you, for that boost to my ego."

Shrugging, Ginjou replied lightly, "Anytime."

"Are you not sleeping well, Haru-kun?" Izuru asked worriedly.

"Yeah. You have panda eyes, this big." Renji demonstrated just how big by drawing half circles all the way below his cheekbones.

Luppi laughed, "Yeah, you look terrible!"

Sullenly, Karin stabbed the piece of chicken on her plate with her chopsticks. "Yeah yeah, have all the fun you like at my expense."

"Have you been reading 'adult' material for too long, Haru?" Keigo chimed in, wiggling his eyebrows. "Borrowed some from Renji?"

Karin choked on the whole-grain bread mid-swallow. Forcing it down with an effort, Karin eyed Keigo incredulously and coughed out, "What?"

"You know, the ones that he's got of Kurosaki Karin – "

Almost all of the breakfast that Karin had consumed up till then threatened to come back up her esophagus.

Miziuiro slapped the back of Keigo's head, in order to save the poor boy from a worse fate that surely awaited him from a certain red-head who was clutching his chopsticks hard enough for them to break. "Of course not, you idiot. I doubt there are even any."

' _Damn right there aren't! I'm only fourteen!'_ Karin thought indignantly.

"Because there _aren't_ any!" Renji banged his fists against the table. "Besides, she's underage! _Fourteen!_ She can't make those! That's child pornography, that is!"

"That doesn't mean she can't pose for *gravure magazines." Ganju said with his mouth full.

 _[*gravure: Japanese female models in magazines intended for male audiences. Most cases, they emphasize their sexual attractiveness by wearing scanty swimwear.]_

Renji's wrath turned on him. "If she's in _sports_ magazines, I'd understand, but _gravure?_ No way! Even if there _were_ , I wouldn't look at them!"

For once, Karin was glad that Renji was on 'Karin's' side no matter what. She definitely didn't want her friends to think that 'Karin' was a gravure idol. Or _any_ idol, for that matter.

It was a hurl-worthy thought, even if 'Kurosaki Karin' was an identity she'd thrown away.

After another few weeks – which seemed like forever to Karin – the nurse finally deemed Karin's right arm healed and took out the stitches and freed her right arm from its wrappings. To celebrate, Karin's friends snuck some brownies from the teacher's lounge and some orange juice and toasted to her right arm. It was a meager party with equally meager snacks, but Karin appreciated it; it was the best they could manage out here in such a Spartan environment.

Downing a cup of orange juice, Ginjou smacked his lips. "Not as good as alcohol, but refreshing nonetheless."

Keigo was impressed. "Wow, you've drunken alcohol already? At what, the age of seventeen?"

"Last year, actually, so that makes sixteen." Ginjou grinned cheekily.

Mizuiro shrugged. "What's the big deal? I've been offered alcohol since I was thirteen."

Shishigawara glared at him. "That's because you've been wooing older women for that long!" To Ginjou, he asked, "When was your birthday again?"

Pouring out another cup of orange juice, Ginjou raised an eyebrow. "Mid-October, why?"

"Oh man! It was at the start of the school year, and we missed the ceremony!" Shishigawara exclaimed.

Ginjou narrowed his eyes. "And would this 'ceremony' happen to be punching me seventeen times?"

Luppi pretended to be surprised. "Le gasp! How did you know?" Ginjou shot him a dirty look.

Turning to Renji, Ganju said, "I remember your birthday was August…" he trailed off, trying to remember the exact date and failing.

Renji finished, "August 31st, you twit." He asked Karin in turn, "Hey, when's yours?"

Sipping at the orange juice, Karin tried to recall what the birthdate for 'Akimoto Haru' was. What was it… She couldn't remember. Forgetting that Renji was an expert in all things 'Karin'-related, she just said her real birthday. "May 6th."

Renji paused. His eyes flickered to Karin. However, he didn't voice anything, and continued to chomp away at the brownie.

About three-quarters through the second semester, Karin had completely caught up with the second-years. She had trained ferociously while others rested, and it had paid off. The strategics class held more simulations, with any number of bodyguards ranging from solo to a whole battalion.

Karin was slowly improving in the firearm practicals as well. Now that she knew where the problem lay, she could even train with her colored contacts on. At first, it was difficult to switch between shooting with her contacts on and off, but after a while, she got the hang of it. Slowly, Karin increased the ratio of the practice time she spent with her colored contacts on, to get used to shooting with her contacts on. She would have to keep the colored contacts on even after she left The Academy.

She resolved that she _would_ graduate a year early, along with her friends.

At last, it was the day before the exams, and they all had the day off, to rest and review.

And Karin's friends were worried. Though she had improved drastically, she still rarely hit the fifteen-yard mark, much less the sixteen yards. To their dismay, she remained as nonchalant as ever.

It was Renji who voiced the question they all harbored in their minds. "Uh. Haru."

Karin looked up from the omelette she had just taken a large bite out of. "Hmm?" She wasn't really aware of the situation; she was too busy going over the new steps of the Crane form in her mind.

"Well, I'm wondering, how are you doing?"

Karin chewed slowly, wondering what he meant. Swallowing the chunk of egg, she blinked and said uncertainly, "Huh? Um, fine, I guess?" She wasn't sure what he meant.

Renji's brow furrowed at this. _'Isn't he even concerned whether he's going to be kicked out or not? Are his parents that rich, that he can handle all the fees if he fails to pass the probationary period?'_

If so, for an orphan like Renji, it was an unimaginable luxury.

The frivolity was unforgivable.

Later that night, Renji confronted his suitemate. "Haru."

Karin looked up from a textbook that she was reviewing on the bed, with a questioning look in her eyes.

"Aren't you even worried?"

Closing the textbook, Karin sat up and faced Renji. "If you mean about the examination tomorrow, then no."

Renji couldn't believe his ears. "And why the hell not? Your shooting skills are still unstable! You only hit the fifteen-yard target half the time!"

Karin sighed. _'So he's finally said it.'_

By this time, Renji was shouting. "Is becoming a bodyguard that trivial a dream to you? Is that it? Are your folks that rich, that you don't even have to worry about not passing the probationary year?"

That struck a nerve. Karin leapt up from the bed and began to shout at him.

"Yes, my father is filthy rich! But you know what? He didn't want me to do _anything_ except grow up respectably and marry someone 'nice and rich,' to fit his standards," her voice dripped with sarcasm when she spat out 'nice and rich,' "So I disobeyed his wishes by coming here! My whole family thinks I'm _dead_!" Karin's eyes flashed. "And did you just say _trivial_?"

Karin snorted humorlessly. "You're right! Compared to _you_ it might be trivial, since I don't have anything I want to protect besides my dream and my freedom. But those are enough for me to even risk my _life_ for! You have no idea what I've gone through to get this far!" She pointed over to his room. "I have an exam tomorrow, and I don't need any holier-than-thou lectures from you to get mixed up with all the other lectures I've heard. Get out."

But Renji stubbornly crossed his arms and didn't move. He glared at her. "Just _what_ have you gone through then, _Akimoto_?"

It was just on the tip of her tongue. How difficult it was to live as the lone girl among the boys, and to physically keep up with them. How much of a pain it was to hide so many things, everyday. Living in fear of being discovered. But she bit her tongue.

Instead of spilling her guts about how she was a girl, Karin referred to all the visible physical work she'd put in to achieve this much. "If you don't know by now, then it's no business of yours, _Abarai._ "

All the times she'd had to nurse a skinned thumb after firing a gun a few too many times. All the hours she'd spent poring over different battle tactics. All the hours she'd spent training rain or shine, when others had been resting.

As if all this had occurred to him, Renji uncrossed his arms and looked ashamed of his self. "Look, Haru. I… I'm sorry."

Shocked, Karin lowered her hand. Renji was _apologizing?_ Suddenly, she laughed and said cruelly, "Is the world coming to an end? Abarai Renji, apologizing?"

Despite the jab at his personality, Renji continued, "I know that you've worked damned hard the whole year."

Karin neither acknowledged nor denied this. They both knew that it was true.

Renji admitted quietly, "I just don't want you to have to give up." He wasn't able to meet Karin's eyes.

Sighing, Karin said, "Look. I'm not being complacent. I _am_ nervous about tomorrow, but I'm not afraid. I _will_ pass, I promise you."

They stood there for what seemed like several hours before Karin said, "I think I'd better turn in for today. Exams tomorrow, you know."

Renji nodded, and silently crossed over to his room.

However, they both lay awake on their beds for a long time.

When they woke the next morning, it was the day of the examinations.

The examinations that decided which probationers would stay. And which would go.

…

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: I know, I'm covering a large amount of time in the space of a single chapter. There is barely any dialogue, but hey, I'm trying a new writing style. Covering (somewhat :P) important moments with a bit more detail, and covering less significant, longer time periods over a few paragraphs… Le sigh... I think I've gone back to level 1 story writing. T.T Yay for crappy writing&hellip


	6. Mission 6

Disclaimer: Bleach belongs to Kubo Tite.  
…

The Bodyguard

Mission 6

…

“This is Akimoto Haru-kun, who will be your new bodyguard. “

The young man stared resentfully at his foster father. “Bodyguard? I’m perfectly capable of taking care of myself.”

The father sighed wearily. “No. You may be able to fight for yourself, but that is not the same as being able to take care of yourself.” He turned and stared out the window stretching across the wall, at the whole cityscape visible to them. “When I assign a bodyguard to you, then you will accept it. You are not yet of emancipation age.”

Gritting his teeth, the young man, now a ‘principle,‘ crashed his fist against the table, which creaked ominously upon the stress of the impact. The principle glared at the man… no, kid, who had been assigned to keep him out of trouble. Take care of him.

The kid’s brown eyes held only contempt, as if seeing exactly what they expected.

A wreck.

…

3 years ago

…

On the day of the examination, Karin didn’t put in her contacts.

As Renji had oh-so-gently pointed out the previous night, she knew that she didn’t a snowman’s chance in hell with her contacts on. So she took a gamble. The second-years would go about their usual training while the probationers went through their final test. In the unlikely case that Izuru would notice her true eye color, she knew that he wouldn’t mention it to anybody. He didn’t speak much with the others anyways.

As Karin trooped down the stairs, her heart beat erratically.

Though she had acted all confident in front of Renji, she trembled terribly.

This was it.

Today was the day she would no longer be a probationer. Either she would stay, or she would go.  
She didn’t want to think of the consequences should she fail. But her thoughts strayed there anyways, like little magnets attracted to one the size of an elephant.

Her mind raced a mile a minute.

If she did fail, maybe Ikkaku would take her in. Then she would have to go to a normal high school, and shoulder the debt until she could pay it back. Or she would have to go straight to get a job. Though she couldn’t imagine any place, or person in his right mind, who would hire a child who didn’t even graduate from high school.

Going back to the mansion – she wouldn’t refer to it as her home, not since her mother had died – wasn’t a possibility. No. She couldn’t go back. If she did, she wouldn’t be able to set foot outside; her father wouldn’t let her. She would be put under 24-hour surveillance.

She definitely didn’t want that.

All too soon, Karin had arrived at the foot of the stairs.

She saw a familiar silver head glance in her direction, as if he had psychic powers to detect her presence as soon as she was within a hundred meter distance.

Preceptor Gin waved her over where he stood in the side of the mess hall.

He would be one of the proctors for this exam, Karin thought warily. Though he would not be the one to grade her, today was one day that she didn’t want to face him. He treated her very kindly, but something about him – and Preceptor Tousen – just unsettled her at times. Maybe she was being paranoid, but the idea that Gin might notice the change of her eye color set her on edge. Because he showed such a different side around her than he did the other students, she thought he already suspected her identity, and revealing her blue eyes probably would not help in that aspect.

However, she could not blatantly ignore his beckoning; not when he knew that she had seen him. When she cautiously came near the ever-smiling preceptor, all he did was reach out a hand and ruffle her shaggy black hair. “Good luck, Haru-kun. I’ll be rooting for ya.”

As he sauntered away, Karin just stared at him, confused. His friendly – almost gentle – manner towards her always caught her off guard.

Shaking her head as if to clear it from all thoughts, Karin looked around for a blonde head and found Izuru among a sea of black hair. After heaping a little bit of everything on her tray, she made her way to him, sitting alone at the table. He was picking at his breakfast.

Plopping down across him, she said in an exasperated tone, “You have to eat something, Izuru. I doubt they’d feed us if they were going to make us do physicals first.”

Looking at her with something akin to resentment, Izuru said, “Aren’t you even nervous?”

Popping a shrimp into her mouth, Karin said thoughtfully, “Actually, I am. A lot.” Seeing Izuru’s skeptical look, Karin insisted, “I am. But that’s no good reason to starve. That would be counterproductive. So for Christ’s sake, eat.”

With her encouragement, Izuru ate a little bit. Once it struck 6:30, the preceptors started instructing the students to fold the table and push them to the walls of the mess hall. Karin and Izuru did so, with no small amount of annoyance. The hall was huge, and their table was smack in the center of it.

Once that was done, they took places beside in one of the stock-straight rows.

Karin looked around at her fellow first years, knowing she wouldn’t be seeing most of these faces after this. If not all of them.

The first-years continued to form lines, all of them wearing apprehensive, if not downright terrified, expressions. They were ‘not-quite-men-yet,’ after all. They had every right to be nervous of failing. Or facing their parent’s wrath, being forced to ‘donate’ an immense sum of money to help maintain The Academy.

Karin too, found her palms getting sweaty. She surreptitiously wiped them on her uniform.

“’Allo, Probationers.”

Like he had for the orientation, Headmaster Urahara languished at the front of the mess hall.

“So, you’ve all survived so far. I’d like to say ‘well done’ to all of you, but that comes later, once you’ve passed the exam today and shed the title ‘probationer.’ And less than a quarter of you will do so.”

He really didn’t need to remind them of that.

“There will be a hundred questions; if you get all of them right, then you’ll be awarded all hundred of the points. If you get, say, sixty-two questions correct, then sixty-two points. Zero questions,” he shrugged, “then you get zero points. Simple as that.” With this inadequate explanation, he trotted off the podium, and once again, all the preceptors looked like they’d expected it. Either that or they wanted to beat the headmaster to death.

With a pained expression on his face, Preceptor Hirako took up the mike and explained in more detail.

“The normal academics portion of the test will come first; you have two hours to complete it, no exceptions. Your papers will be collected after the allotted length of time. And to those of you who are confident in your book smarts, it’s too early for you to relax. The academics portion amounts to less than a tenth of the exam that will ultimately decide your fate with respect to The Academy.”

Out of the corner of her eye, Karin saw Izuru shift uncomfortably at that statement. She whispered to him, “Don’t worry, Izuru. Your shooting is the best in our class.”

Izuru gave her a small smile at her confidence in him. But Karin didn’t think that his clean aim would be the only reason that he would pass; he had grown several inches in the past year, and he no longer struggled with his martial arts as he had for the first few months.

Karin turned back to Preceptor Hirako as he continued, “The test is, once again,” he shot a nasty look in the direction the carefree and absentminded headmaster had hopped off to, “based off a hundred point system. I won’t insult your intelligence by elaborating on what the headmaster so… generously… explained. But it seems to have slipped our headmaster’s mind to inform you how many parts there are to this test. As many of you may have heard from upperclassmen, there are five parts to this test.” He began to tick off his fingers. “Academics, unarmed combat, armed combat, firearms… Last but far from the least…” He ticked off his thumb, and cast an eye over the students. “You will undergo a simulation as if you were an Executive Protector. As I mentioned earlier, among these five, the written comprehension test will contribute only 5%.” The preceptor glanced at his wristwatch, and clapped his hands. “Detailed explanations later. It’s 6:48, and the test begins at 7:00 am. After you get your booklets, just sit on the floor in *Seiza position.” He motioned for various preceptors to start distributing the test booklet.

[*Seiza: a kneeling position. Very uncomfortable to sit in for long periods of time.]

Karin looked on trepidation as the students settled down on the floor to take the exam. There were no desks, and certainly no cushions (the mere idea of this place stocking up on cushions for its trainees was laughable). Was this some sort of endurance training? To see how long they could last on the floor, kneeling and bent over their booklets without any sort of desk in front of them? Reluctantly, she too took her booklet that was passed to her and knelt on the floor.

“Start!”

There was a collective rustle as the trainees opened their booklets. Karin inwardly sighed as she saw the questions, which ranged from everything about international policies to linear algebra – which, contrary to its name, was actually a huge pain, even harder than calculus and combinatorics. (Karin shuddered to think of all the portions of discrete math they would cover in third-year.)

After checking her paper over and over again for mistakes, Karin finally just gave up and handed the cursed paper in when the two hours were up.

Wincing, Karin shifted. Her legs had long gone to sleep; her lower body would be sore the next day.

Once again, Preceptor Hirako stood at the front. “Okay, this next part is the unarmed combat, you have 10 minutes, and the preceptor in charge will declare the winner. You’ll compete in a double-elimination tournament; so if you lose any one round, you still have one more chance, but if you lose twice in a row,” he drew cutthroat motion, “you’re out. If you’re knocked out, you’ll automatically forfeit the next match, and therefore, are out of the tournament.”

Sometime during this long explanation, Hirako Shinji’s face expression had become somewhat bored, as if the explanation were somewhat tedious; in essence, it was, but it was also vital. “There are 80 of you, so if you win consecutively, you only have to fight six rounds. But if you lose every other battle, for each battle you lose, you’ll have one more round to fight.”

Reading one of the dumbfounded faces in front of him, Shinji rolled his eyes. “Yes, that’s not fair, but life isn’t fair. Good news is, you don’t have to be the champion to get full points; you only have to rank in the top 8. But the ones who lose twice in a row in the beginning will get 0 points. Zip. None. This portion of the test will count for 20%, but just because you get a good score on this exam doesn’t necessarily mean you’ll pass. Only the top 80 percentile among you will stay, so the only way you can stay is if you do better than 80% of your peers.” Next, he brandished a sheet of paper. “The sheets depicting the starting rounds, as well as where they’re taking place, are being handed out now. A preceptor will oversee each of the pairs. Get to it.”

Scanning the pairing sheet that a preceptor handed her, Karin spotted her name. Ignoring the pins and needles in her legs, she made her way to where the sheet said she was. Beside her own name there was printed Unagiya Kaoru. She recognized the name, and matched it to a face slowly nearing her.

He was a small, diminutive boy, even more so than Izuru had been at the beginning of the year. But what he lacked in size and strength he made up in speed. As far as she knew, his specialties were snake and leopard form; but Five-Animals was the only martial arts she shared with him. There were plenty of other speed-based martial arts that could be his other six.

Their overseeing preceptor was also familiar to Karin. The one who had come to check on her and Renji on her first morning at The Academy; the one with the eerily pale face. As he led them all the way to the area that they would fight in, he wore the same inscrutable expression that he had looked at her with on the first day.  
When they arrived, he crossed his arms and said abruptly, “Begin.”

That was the most anticlimactic cue to a duel ever, in Karin’s opinion. Both trainees stared at the pale man. When neither of them budged, the preceptor said with a hint of testiness, “I said. You may. Begin.”

Kaoru waved a hand in the preceptor’s direction. “Yes, yes, Preceptor Cifer. We’ll get right to it.” He looked at Karin and shrugged. “Well, let’s start, Nii-san.”  
Suddenly, he was gone. Karin’s leg shot out just in time to block Kaoru’s attack. So he was turning and using his short height as an advantage to go for her blind spots, eh? Then Karin would use a combat style that relied mostly on using the lower body: Taekkyon.

But as soon as Kaoru saw that his tactic to cripple her legs wasn’t working, he changed his combat style. With a fluid jump he aimed to strike Karin’s vitals with a knee. But she blocked with her arms and Kaoru jumped back into a crouch.

“I recognize this style.”

Kaoru looked surprised. “Oh?” He attacked again, this time sweeping his leg out in an attempt to fell her from below. Karin jumped easily to avoid it, and raised a leg as she did so, intending to bring it back down to counterattack. However, he dodged her downward kick by leaping aside nimbly, landing in a low stance once again. Karin, too, leapt back and again they stood at a standstill. “But recognizing it doesn’t necessarily mean you can fight against it.” He challenged.

“Less talk, more combat. Remember, there are only ten minutes.” Ulquiorra Cifer said with an edge in his voice.

Ignoring the preceptor, Karin continued, “Yeah, I do recognize it. That fluid style is Capoeira.” Her brow furrowed. “But they said the Brazilian instructor died during a mission. How did – “

Kaoru stood up and shrugged. “I may or may not have learnt it before I came here…” He smiled, cat-like. “Nii-san.” He circled her at a distance, as if her were wary of her, but disappeared once again. Caught off guard, Karin took a blow to her shin and kneecap. Though the blow itself wasn’t strong, it was enough to keep her from counterattacking and give him time to get away. Gripping her knee, Karin realized that he was also a practitioner of Baguazhang.

This wouldn’t do. She wouldn’t advance if she kept staying on the defensive. Karin had to initiate the attack, no matter how small the boy was. So she sank down into a Drunken Fist stance and said, “Sorry, but I’m not gonna go easy on you any more, Kaoru.”

Once the ten minutes were over, Ulquiorra marked ‘Haru’ the winner of the first round, and then sent her to the next arena her second round would take place, while he oversaw Kaoru’s consolation battle.

Next up was Heita Toujoin, and he was small fry; she knocked him out in one minute. If he didn’t wake up in nine minutes, he would be disqualified; she felt a bit guilty, but as far as she knew, he had wealthy parents who could afford to ‘donate’ to The Academy. There were other bodyguard academies, though not as prestigious.

Afterwards was Rikichi, who was more difficult, though not by much. She stopped just short of incapacitating him. She thought he deserved a chance to face his next opponent, though a little worse for wear after fighting her.  
Steadily, her opponents became harder and harder to defeat. It they all lasted through the allotted ten minutes, and it was only because she landed more hits on them that she was declared the winner of each round.

Karin’s hardest opponent was Momohara Tetsuo. He was a master, no, a monster, in Karate. He had even beaten the preceptor in charge of teaching Karate to the students, she heard. She sighed inwardly. Ten minutes to beat him was going to be tough for her.  
Sure enough, just as she had foreseen, she lost. His speed and unpredictable use of Karate – combined with moves she hadn’t even seen before, much less block – had defeated her.

But she couldn’t give up just because she had lost one measly battle.

Luckily, she didn’t have to face Izuru. He had lost two in a row in the quarterfinals.

Facing him would have been highly uncomfortable, as she didn’t want to have to step on a comrade for her own means.  
Barely defeating Findor Carias in the semifinals, Karin made it all the way up to the top, as everyone who had been defeated, looked on at the final battle. Her last opponent was Ggio Vega. His hair was messily cropped as if he had done it himself, but at the nape of his neck there was a long braided ponytail.  
Karin rolled up her sleeves and grinned, in the more ‘baring the teeth’ kind of way than ‘friendly smile’ kind of way.

“Bring it on, master Vega.” She knew his style; they took three classes together, and she had sparred with him multiple times. Combining their classes, their ratio of victory had been about three to two; with Ggio in the lead.

That would change now.

The preceptor in charge raised his hand between them. With much deliberation (completely in contrast with Ulquiorra), he brought down his hand and shouted,

“Start!”

Predictably, Ggio immediately kicked at her with his right leg first; he started every spar like that. Having been prepared for this, she blocked the kick with her left forearm easily, and shot out with her right arm and hit his eye.

The boys all groaned in sympathy at the first strike. Getting hit on the eye socket hurt. Ggio would have a marvelous black eye the next day.

While he was temporarily blinded, she kicked him and threw him down on the floor in Hapkido style. Ggio swayed to his feet, looking a bit dazed. But Karin realized a bit too late that he swayed for a different reason than wooziness. Ggio used his Drunken Fist to deal her a blow to her gut back in kind, leaving her winded. Karin bit back a wince. Despite his frail looks, he had quite the stamina. When he moved to strike her again, she used a mix of Aikido and Judo to slam him twice onto the floor.

By now, the boys were cheering, shouting out the names of whomever they rooted for. “Get him Haru!”

“Stand up, Ggio! Are you going to let that pretty boy beat you?”

Staggering to his feet, Ggio glared venomously at her. “I’m going with my specialty.” His mouth curled into a sly smile. “You know what that is, right, Akimoto?”  
Karin did.

The one style he came out victorious, ten out of ten: tiger form.

Then Karin would rely on her best form up to date; dragon form.

“Go Ggio!”

“Get’m, Akimoto!”

Even Izuru was calling her name. “You can do it, Haru-kun!”

But the crowd’s yell fell on deaf ears. The two were circling each other, one with a hand in a claw grip, the in the other in a hand position where the tips of the thumb and index finger met but the rest of the hand stayed loose.

Looking at Ggio beyond the typical meditation hand position her hand was in, Karin’s mind was analyzing the chances of Dragon against Tiger. Dragon form used quick but fluid strikes, whereas tiger form used sharp and jabbing grips. She hoped that it would be enough.

And it was.

Six minutes later, the trainees were cheering and Ggio’s stamina had finally fallen to Karin’s relentless blows. Tired, Karin walked to where Izuru stood and grinned wearily. “A hundred points?”

Izuru grinned back and nodded. “Definitely.” Chuckling, Karin slung an arm over his shoulders. When they heard several preceptors announce a half-hour lunch break, they brightened and high-fived each other.

“Food! Marvelous food!” Karin chanted.

Izuru smiled at her. But he paused when he noticed something different about her. He didn’t know quite what, but there was something… “Haru-kun, did you cut your hair?”

Bewildered, Karin answered, “Huh? No.”

“Oh. Hm. You look different somehow, but I can’t pinpoint it exactly…” Izuru mused.

Karin fought not to widen her eyes with alarm at this sentence. Instead she squinted so Izuru couldn’t see her eye color. “Y-you’re seeing things.”

To her relief, Izuru accepted her excuse.

Unlike for breakfast, Karin didn’t take a lot of food, because they would participate in armed combat immediately afterwards. Holding their trays, Karin and Izuru headed over to some chairs that had been pushed aside in lieu of the tournament, before Karin saw something that made her pause.

Preceptor Gin was pocketing a wad of cash into his pocket, grinning even more widely than usual. Was he doing what Karin thought he was…? She stared at her preceptor, feeling somewhat betrayed. “You took bets on me?” she asked plaintively as Gin spotted them and slinked over.

Once more, Gin reached out and ruffled her hair. “What’re ya looking so hurt for? I bet on your vict’ry. That’s how confident I am of ya.” He swiveled a chair around and sat on it back to front. Karin did the same balancing her tray on the top of the back of the chair, while Izuru sat normally with his tray on lap. As expected, Gin initiated the conversation. “So, howd’ya think ya did on the written test?”

Izuru looked a little nervous. Karin was more bewildered.

“Are preceptors allowed to ask that to trainees?”

Gin shrugged. “Never said we couldn’t. ‘Sides, what can’ya do now? Find your paper from that huge stack and steal it ‘n order to fix the mistake?”

Even so, Karin had a vague feeling that it wasn’t quite within the rules, so she answered vaguely. “Well, I did the best I could.”

For the rest of the half hour, the three chatted (though again, Gin was the one who chattered the most). When the half hour came to an end, Karin and Izuru stood up. Gin looked down at his watch and said in mock dismay, “Oh? It’s already time?” He waved at them as they bowed and walked away. “Good luck with the next round, both of ya.”

Just as Karin and Izuru sat down, Preceptor Hirako announced, “The next armed combat uses the same tournament methodology as the unarmed combat. But this time, you can only choose one weapon per round. You may use steps of other martial arts as you see fit, but you can use only one weapon. Again, this test will count for 20% of the exam. The sheet listing the orders of the first round are being passed out right now.”

This time, a preceptor who wore a black bandage over his right eye whom Karin recognized as Kutsuzawa Giriko refereed their match. Omaeda Marechiyo was her first opponent. They both went and chose from an array of weapons; Marechiyo’s weapon of choice was a rentsuru (Japanese flail), while Karin’s was a glaive – both were long-range weapons. Though they were both dull, they could both deal damage.

Though Marechiyo was a tough opponent, within the ten minutes Karin had her glaive at his neck. Kutsuzawa declared her the winner of the round, and she advanced to the quarterfinals before she lost to Hanakiri Jinta. Her chosen weapon – a wudang sword – was at a disadvantage to his chosen weapon, a kanabou (Japanese club).

His heavy club always overwhelmed her sword almost to the point of breaking it, so the preceptor declared him the victor. Karin rather thought that she would have won if the blade of her sword were sharp.

To get to the semifinals, she had to win the next battle, but she lost again to Eishima Shinobu, who used a wudang sword against her weighted chain. Karin cursed her weapon choice. But they chose their weapons simultaneously, and luck was also a big part of battle. She tried to wrap her chain around his sword and yank it out, it turned out that he was much heavier than her and the chain was pulled out of her hands instead.

So she was dropped at the quarterfinals.

Taking to watch the other battles instead, she cheered Izuru on, who surprisingly advanced to the finals before losing to Wonderweiss Margela, an even more unexpected finalist. He was always silent and never spoke even when spoken to. In Karin’s opinion, he seemed a little mentally out of it, but apparently he was a master at wielding zweihänder (greatsword).

When Izuru came out of the ring of spectators, Karin didn’t bother consoling him; he didn’t look like he needed it. His face shined with the adrenalin of making it to the finals. He turned to Karin, excited, “Did you see me, Haru-kun? I got all the way up to the finals!”

She grinned at him. “You scored full points!”

Retreating somewhat back into his shell of shyness, Izuru smiled back. “You too, Haru-kun. The top 8 get 100 points, remember?”

Karin chortled at the tentative reminder. “That’s right, don’t we?”

But then, Izuru turned serious. “Haru-kun… What are you going to do for the next portion of the test?”

Karin looked at Izuru with raised eyebrows. “Well. I’ve gotten full points for at least 40% of the exam.” Looking away, she shrugged. “I guess it all depends on how the other students do.”

But secretly, Karin was extremely nervous. Performance in shooting, like all other things, had vastly different without anybody watching and people watching. And there was so much more at stake, and that much more pressure added.

Anxiously, she followed the crowd to where the next exam, marksmanship, would be held. Once all the students had arrived, Preceptor Hirako, with a hint of irritated tone in his voice, said, “This test is worth 25% of your overall score. three shots to hit accurately. You’ll start with the five-yard target, then onto the six-yard, then seven-yard, and so on until you can’t hit accurately with all three shots. You’ll be assigned to a random gun that you have to assemble for every target. Well then, until the next exam.”

Karin looked at Izuru questioningly. “He didn’t say how to get full points.”

Izuru looked apprehensive. “I suppose they’re going use the percentile system, grading after they see the average shooting distance.”

The first handgun that Karin was assigned was an S&W 868 Plus. As she snapped the pieces together, she thought that it was lucky that this gun was assigned to her on the closest target; it was one of the harder handguns to aim accurately with. She shot all three rounds dead center into the five-yard target.  
The next was six yards, and Karin was assigned the QSZ-92 pistol. This too, she shot three rounds to the center.

By the fifteenth yard, Karin was sweating. Slowly, she was taking longer to aim and shoot, wary of the preceptors and assistants watched her like hawks. She lost her concentration and jerked the Berreti PX4 and the bullet punched to the left of the center. Taking note that the preceptor behind her tapped something on his tablet, Karin adjusted her hold on the pistol and fired the next two rounds accurately.

The sixteenth and seventeenth yards passed without much trouble. It was by the twentieth yard the real test started. She gulped when she saw the pieces of the Ruger Security Six that she had to shoot with. Her hands trembled as she put it together; it was a hard gun to shoot with. Clenching her jaw, Karin fired three rounds. Two of the shots made it near the center, but the third shot was halfway to the edge. Lowering her gun, Karin sighed, and turned to the next gun she had to assemble.

By the fortieth yard, Karin was barely hitting the board at all, though one shot did make it to near the center. Exhaling, she reached for the handgun they had assigned for her 41st yard target, but the preceptor stopped her.

That will do. Forty yards seems to be your limit. Average pistol assembly time is one minute and ten seconds.” He looked directly at her. “I wish you luck on the last exam.” He nodded at her.

She only had to wait for ten more minutes for her peers to finish. Izuru came towards her, and just by his face she knew he had done well. “What mark?” She asked, a grin spreading across her face.

He was fighting to keep the proud smile off of his face. “Fifty yards. I could’ve kept going, but he said that he wanted the others to have a fighting chance. It was lucky that nearly all the weapons assigned to me were the ones we learned in class.” Then his expression became worried. “Haru-kun… how far were you…”

Karin grinned. “Forty yards.”

Izuru’s face was so awestruck that Karin had to hold back a snort of laughter. “What? Just yesterday, you could only hit the fifteenth-yard mar – “

Hastily Karin covered his mouth with a hand. Looking around for anybody who could be listening, she whispered in his ear, “I was just pretending. To catch them off guard.” This was half-true. It was true that she had worn her colored contacts on purpose, but that was to hide her blue eyes. She swore that she would ask the barber whenever he came to shave her head completely.

Meanwhile, Izuru had just taken her ‘explanation’ as the truth and broken out into a wide grin. “So you’re going to stay! You’re going to stay for sure!”  
Embarrassed at his jubilation, Karin shushed him. “Don’t say it so loudly… Besides, I still don’t know if I’ll make it into the 80th percentile.” She dearly hoped she would, but she didn’t dare relax. There was still the last test, which counted for 30% of the exam.

They heard three loud claps, and all the students turned to face the direction they had sounded from.

By this time, Hirako looked absolutely weary. “Alright, the next test will be the final one. You will be assigned a partner, and both of you will be assigned to a preceptor. It will be your job to become their Executive Protector to keep them from any physical threats at all costs. These ‘threats’ will be upperclassmen. You will be rated on how well you fare against an upperclassman and how he is ranked, which is a rough estimate of how high the ‘threat’ is. The preceptor who is acting as your principle will grade this. Go up to the mess hall and your partner and preceptor will be posted there.”

As they headed upstairs, Izuru said to Karin, “I hope we’re partners, Haru-kun.”

Karin pointed out, “Don’t count on it. The chances of that happening are very slim.”

As she had predicted, they were both partnered with someone else. He with Momohara Tetsuo the Karate guru, and Karin ironically with Ggio Vega.

And beside Izuru’s name was Sasakibe Choujiro, the Preceptor in charge of fencing.

But beside Karin’s name was Urahara Kisuke.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> All the characters introduced in this chapter are canon. :P


	7. Mission 7

Disclaimer: Bleach belongs to Kubo Tite.

A/N: Thankee, MissJudged16! Everybody, MissJudged16 is my first BetaReader! ^^ *Applause*

…

**The Bodyguard**

Mission 7

…

– Karin –

For the first time in years, Karin put on the wig and stood in front of a mirror, examining herself with a frown. It made her face look like a girl, but she didn't have any clothes to wear along with it.

Over the course of the years, she had filled out in the chest and hips, and now it hurt to bind her chest down in order to hide her still growing breasts; it was difficult to even have suits tailored to fit her stature.

Inwardly, Karin sighed. In order to fulfill his request, she would have to go clothes shopping, not to mention underwear shopping; she already hated regular shopping (that is, shopping for men's clothes), but the thought of her going shopping for women's underwear – furthermore, as a man – made her wince.

But here, Karin stood – albeit unwillingly – in Victoria's Secret, looking helplessly at the various bras, panties, and heaven forbid, lingerie and garters to go on top of them. She definitely didn't need those. Unless… A kinky thought occurred to her, but she immediately drove it away with her mental chainsaw. He didn't need any further encouragement. No indeed. Her cheeks reddened at both her lascivious thoughts and the women giving odd looks at the 'man' ogling women's underwear.

With an effort, Karin managed to ignore the curious glances and continued to stare at the bras. She had no idea what her bra size was, and she couldn't well go into a changing room and put them on without looking a total weirdo. So she just chose the smallest cup size. She didn't have a bosom anyway. Much. Even if the bra turned out to be a bit small, she could endure it for a single meal, it couldn't be as bad as her chest-binding corset. Then she'd lock it away in the safe with her wig. Either that or burn it.

As she meandered around and considered whether she should buy the panties with provocative slogans written on the rump, her principle unexpectedly walked into the shop. Karin froze. Why on earth was he… Oh.

A woman was hanging off his arm; she was a different one than his last woman, but just as beautiful. And behind them had to be…

Her fellow employee reluctantly followed them in. Out of pure bodyguard habit, his eyes scanned his surroundings, and his eyes landed on Karin. His eyes widened upon seeing her – in a lingerie shop of all places – but he thankfully seemed to assume that she had come here for her significant other. Which she actually had, in a roundabout way, though her 'significant other' was of a different gender than what he was most likely thinking…

The bodyguard gave her a pained glance and Karin shot her fellow sufferer a sympathetic grimace in return. Nearing her, the bodyguard whispered, "I don't know how you deal with this guy six days a week, Akimoto. He's such a pain in the – "

Turning around to see what his Sunday bodyguard had stopped for, the principle spotted Karin. Prying the girl off of his arm, he stepped over to her, eyebrows raised. "Why, what a surprise, meeting you here. What are those?" he said, looking pointedly at the basket she held, filled with women's underwear.

Since she was off-duty this day, she could be as snarky as she liked; though she knew he could get her back for it the next day, when she was back to guarding him again.

"You must be stupider than you look if you don't know what these are." Nonchalantly, she picked up and examined a boy-short panty that had 'you know you want this' written on it. She swiveled an eye his direction and smirked. "Or have you never 'gotten any?'" That was the ticket. Twist the sarcasm knob to the max.

But her 6-days-a-week principle ignored her last statement and peered at her. In mock sympathy, he asked, "Do you like to wear women's underwear?"

Karin grit her teeth and ground out, "…It's for my… girlfriend. Like yours, who's waiting for you over at the garter section."

In an exaggerated motion of looking around, her principle said, "Your girlfriend? Is she here with you?"

Karin didn't answer, but grabbed a navy blue boy-short panty (which ironically had 'I'm on vacation' written on the rear) and threw it into her basket, stomping over to the cash register.

She stalked out of the shop as her principle waved her goodbye in a faux friendly manner.

Great. Her principle thought that she liked to dress in drag.

But since when had she cared what her principle thought of her? He already treated her like she was a cockroach stuck to the sole of his shoe, still wriggling.

Raking a hand through her hair, she went to look for women's clothing. Another hurdle.

_'Why the hell am I doing this …'_ Oh yeah. It was for him. She inwardly cursed. _'You'd better appreciate all the trouble I'm going through for you.'_

…

_3 years ago_

…

Karin turned away from the assignment listings with a sour look on her face. Some distance away, Ggio seemed to be thinking along the same lines. They looked at each other, resigned. And it wasn't because the two rivals had been partnered with each other. It was because their job was to protect the headmaster. The slovenly, incompetent headmaster.

While they clipped their airsoft guns and the holsters to their belts, Karin muttered out of the corner of her mouth to Ggio, "I'm looking forward _so_ much to protecting this principle, aren't you?"

"Oh yeah." Ggio replied with just as much sarcasm coating his voice. They saw the headmaster trot over to the side of the room, waiting for his Executive Protectors to come find him.

"Speak of the devil."

They both waded through the gaggle of their peers over to their temporary principle. When the headmaster spotted them, his smile abruptly widened.

"Oh~ are you my two bodyguards?"

They blinked at his blatant use of the word 'bodyguard.' He was a preceptor, wasn't he? Shouldn't he use more professional terms? Reading the looks they were giving him, Urahara Kisuke shrugged. "I think that Hirako-san is being rather pretentious by insisting on the whole 'executive protector' thing. What's wrong with the word bodyguard?" Though his eyes were invisible under his hat, nearly all his teeth were exposed due to his ear-to-ear grin. As they processed this information, a clear chiming sounded.

Preceptor Urahara said, "Well, it seems like it's time to start." The preceptor looked around. "Hm. I wonder where we should go."

"You haven't decided where to go beforehand?" Ggio frowned.

Karin protested, "Then how will the upperclassman find us?"

Urahara answered by showing them a little sticker stuck to the cuff of his sleeve. "I have a tracker attached to me, as do all the other preceptors. Of course, the upperclassmen will have the corresponding tracking device." Looking at it fondly, he remarked, "I made it myself."

Rather surprised that the scatterbrained headmaster could make such a complex device himself, Karin decided to reconsider her opinion of the headmaster. Maybe he wasn't so incompetent after all.

Or not.

After 15 minutes, they were _still_ meandering aimlessly around the mess hall, with no apparent destination.

After all the preceptors and their 'bodyguards' had left, the headmaster finally said, "Well, I'll think I'll just wander around the library."

Both of the first-years were bewildered by this.

"Library?" Karin spluttered.

Likewise, Ggio was poleaxed. "There's a library here?"

The headmaster led the way up a staircase going to a section that Karin had always assumed was reserved only for the staff.

"Of course there's a library~ state of the art, too, if I do say so myself. But only the third-years know about it; they need it for their programming and science classes."

As they entered the library, the two of them fixed a rough blueprint in their minds. They would likely have to escape from there, so they memorized all the exits.

Meanwhile, Preceptor Urahara chose a random book (title: 'HardCore Swing'), sat down, and began to lazily flip through the pages, snacking on dried mango slices he had produced from his coat. Having finished examining the library, Karin and Ggio looked on stiffly. Looking at them innocently, the headmaster offered the dried mangoes to them. "Want some?" It took tremendous effort for them to not glare at him as they shook their heads.

After he had finished his dried mangoes, the headmaster pulled out another ziplock bag of what looked like beef jerky. He started gnawing on one piece while secretly examining them beneath the brim of his hat. His eyes lingered on the more slender of the two.

He wondered whether to contact his old friend or not, before he returned to skimming the book he had already memorized by heart.

It seemed like ages before the two first-years saw any action at all. Unless they counted watching their headmaster munching on one snack after another, ranging from various dried snackables and granola bars to nuts. His coat seemed to be a bottomless source of snacks. But amidst the crunching sounds coming from their headmaster, the two trainees heard a rustle.

Immediately, they went into the protective formation for pairs that they had learnt of in Preceptor Gin's class. Both Karin and Ggio had a silent understanding that they would each take whichever of principle's side they were closer to.

The tenseness in the air was thick enough to cut through. The two trainees forgot that this simulation was just for an exam.

Looking up from the middle of 'HardCore Swing,' Urahara questioned, "Should I be doing something?"

If they weren't supposed to be protecting him, Urahara would have been long slaughtered by his own bodyguards, with time to spare.

Biting her tongue to stop herself from spewing acrid comments to her 'principle,' Karin grabbed his atrocity of a hat and threw it far into the bookcases instead. When the headmaster protested, she hissed, "That hat is one of your defining features, so I'm decreasing the chances of your head becoming a target."

Ggio snarled, "Put the book down." Feigning reluctance, the headmaster complied.

Looking around, Karin signaled that all was clear and that they could move. Ggio guided their principle through the bookshelves and towards the nearest exit. Karin strained her ears and listened carefully; she heard footsteps coming after them. She urged both her partner and principle to hasten their escape. Her eyes met his, and he nodded.

As was the procedure, the bodyguard closest to the door would lead the principle to safety, while the other would remain behind, if need be.

Hand reaching for the gun at her hip, Karin glanced at her partner and principle hurrying towards the door on the far right. She drew out the gun from the holster. Why was the exit so far away?

When Karin heard the footsteps nearing and a click of the hammer to unlock a gun, she finally saw her partner and principle slip out the door. But it was too early to be relieved; she too, hit the hammer on her gun and aimed towards the general direction the sound had come from. She still had to lure the enemy away from the two.

But her heart plummeted as the headmaster dashed back in from another door, with Ggio trying in vain to stop him.

"My hat!"

Karin grit her teeth and tightened her trigger finger. The cursed headmaster was trying to make this harder for them on purpose! Not only was he slovenly and incompetent, he was also a downright pain in the ass.

To her right, Karin heard a shifting sound a few bookcases away; she estimated it was about three to four bookcases away .

As if in slow motion, she saw her principle and partner run closer to the area she had tossed the terrible hat. The space behind the fourth bookcase was closer to that area.

Making a split-second decision, Karin lunged for the fourth bookcase. If the enemy was there, then she could disarm him; if he were behind the third bookcase instead, she would still be between him and her principle. She had a chance to block him.

As she tumbled to the space behind the fourth bookcase, she discovered she had made the right decision. She toppled onto a figure with a gun. Grappling with him, she managed to hit the safety of his gun, and tore it out of his grasp.

Though he was stronger, Karin had started in an advantaged position. Wrestling with him, Karin finally pinned him and locked his arm behind his back.

"Ggio! Take the goddamn principle and his hat and get out of here!" She hollered.

She turned back and got a facefull of black hair and a hard hit on her face.

Karin's hold loosened from the blinding pain, and taking this chance, the attacker wrenched free of her armlock. He shoved her back and went past her. But she swept out her leg at the last moment from behind him, and he stumbled.

Grabbing him in a stranglehold, Karin held her gun to his head. "Will you surrender?" she sounded terrible, on account of her bleeding – maybe even broken – nose.

But she froze as she heard another click and felt another gun over her heart. She forced a grin. "Should we test who pulls their trigger first?"

A familiar voice snorted, "Then we'll pull them both at the same time. What about a rematch?"

Not bothering to stop and recall where she recognized the voice from, Karin retorted, "And reenact the prisoner's dilemma? Not a chance. I'd rather commit double suicide with you than let you go and be backstabbed." She looked down at the barrel aimed straight at her heart, and amended, "Or shot in the heart, as it were."

Just after she had said this, she felt a sharp pain over her heart.

There was a grin in the voice this time. "Or I could just pull the trigger while you're distracted by the dialogue."

Karin let go of him, clutching at the area where she had been shot. It still stung. Lowering the gun, she looked the third-year who had defeated her in the face. He was the one who had told her that her problem with aiming lay with her contacts.

As he looked at her, he raised an eyebrow. "You look familiar." He tilted his head, trying to remember from whence. Then he shrugged, giving up. "I was never good at remembering faces. And frankly, I couldn't care less. I'm leaving this hellpit soon anyway." Then he left to track down the headmaster and Ggio.

Karin held the gun loosely at her side, feeling miserable. She had failed to protect her principle. And her nose stung. Wincing, she pinched it to stop the blood flow. When she returned back to the mess hall, she already saw about forty dejected people. She sagged down onto an unoccupied chair, feeling quite the same sentiment as the rest of the trainees.

"Oh? You've been killed, have ya?" He examined her face and noted her bleeding nose. "And someone got you good, didn't they? You must've gotten a hard one."

"Preceptor Gin." Too tired to stand up, she simply looked at him as he sat down on a chair beside hers, wondering why he was here. "Did both of your Executive Protectors get killed as well?"

He shrugged. "They never really stood a chance. The third years are too well trained. It was just a matter of time. Plus, the third years were going all out as well, 'cause it's their graduation exam."

Curious despite herself, Karin asked, "Do two years really make that big of a difference?"

Looking amused, Gin said, "How far have ya come in a single year?"

Karin supposed she had progressed quite a bit in the past 9 months. She'd learnt combat styles, the basics of how to protect, furthered her academics, and most of all, how to use and shoot a gun.

But still, she hadn't stood a chance against the guy.

"If my suspicions are correct, ya just faced the top of the food chain of third-years. Don't be too hard on ya self." Gin assured her. His smile somehow became more genuine and Karin couldn't help but smile back.

Sighing, Karin stretched out on the chair like a cat. Exhaling, she admitted, "Well, the test is over and I've done my best. No point beating myself over what can't be undone."

Gin's smile widened. "That's the spirit."

Slowly, students trickled in, either solo or by pairs accompanied by their overseeing preceptor. Even Izuru walked in. He saw Karin and Gin and started heading over. But before Izuru reached them, Gin stood up to leave.

Karin gave him a questioning glance.

He gestured over to the corner, where the preceptors were slaving away. "They'll be about done with the paper exams and calculating the marksmanship, so they've got to get the preceps' ratings from the simulation." He shrugged, looking resigned. "Well, I'll see ya later."

Afterwards, Izuru arrived. "Wasn't Preceptor Gin here just now?"

Karin nodded. "But he left to report the exam."

She was glad he didn't ask about her face. He too, looked worse for the wear, with a slowly rising black eye and a bleeding lip. As Izuru eased himself into a chair, he asked Karin, "How do you think you did?"

Closing her eyes and leaning back, Karin said wearily, "Don't know, don't care. I'm too tired to worry about things that I can't change now." The first and last statements were true. But the middle one was a lie; she did care. But she didn't want to worry Izuru, so she just acted nonchalant. Then Izuru said, "Look, the headmaster's coming."

Surely enough, when Karin opened her eyes, she saw Preceptor Urahara enter the hall. She covered her face with a hand so he couldn't see her. She wasn't sure it worked when his head turned her direction, but he didn't come over; instead, he headed straight towards the staff table.

When all the trainees had returned, Headmaster Urahara stood on the podium – with his hat back atop his head – the epitome of perkiness in a stark contrast to his weary and worn audience.

"You are now no longer probationers. Some of you will stay, and some of you will go." His hat swiveled around, indicating that he was looking around at the no-longer-first-years. "Though I wanted your names to be called out, the teachers argued against it, as it wouldn't be time efficient."

Not to mention publicly humiliating.

"You will, however, have your name posted up on the wall now, ranked by the total number of points they received. This year, since the curve was set so high, only 17 people will stay. Congrats to those who passed. Over and out."

Again, a very short speech, Karin thought wryly, staring after the headmaster who again bounded off in the direction of the staff quarters. Unlike the other times, Preceptor Hirako didn't step up. Perhaps he felt that everything that needed to be said had been said.

However, when her thoughts turned to the postings, Karin's heart started pounding. She didn't move from where she was sitting. Her breath sounded shallow even to her own ears. All of the other students went, whether they rushed or shuffled, towards the wall where they would find out if they had lasted past the probationary period or not. Some stumbled back in shock, some clutched their faces in horror, and still others hung their heads in shame.

Izuru said tentatively, "We should go check the scores…?"

Karin shook her head tightly.

So nervous he didn't notice Karin's uncharacteristic behavior, Izuru said with a quavering voice, "I-I'll go check out the listings, then."

Numbly, she nodded. Turning, Karin watched as Izuru slowly neared the listings; it was like she stood in an ocean, and every step forward she took felt like a cold wave of water washing over her.

Izuru didn't need to push his way forward to the wall; nearly all the students had dissipated already. He froze, and Karin's heart leapt into her mouth.

Slowly, Karin stood up. Dreamlike, she walked over to where Izuru stood, staring up at the postings.

Sensing that Karin was beside her, Izuru pointed and whispered, "Look."

When Karin stumbled into her room, she sat heavily at the edge of her bed, barely able to believe it. She had worked so hard this past year…

"Haru!" Renji practically yelled her name.

Automatically, Karin looked up. "…Renji…"

He grabbed her roughly by the shoulders, looking panicked. "How did it go? Your face… don't tell me you…"

Her dark blue eyes met his dark brown ones. "I… I…"

Renji waited for her to finish. When she didn't, he shook her. Unable to stand her silence, he shouted, "Damnit! Just say it! Did you pass or not?"

"I… came in first." Her face was disbelieving.

Renji stared at her, not comprehending.

"I passed." Karin breathed.

Renji's eyes widened as the puzzle pieces clicked together. "Passed… in first place?" His face broke out into a large grin, the biggest one Karin had seen him wear yet.

Once again, Renji shook her vigorously, this time not of agitation, but from excitement. "That's great! Awesome! I'll call Ginjou. We're gonna get smashed tonight!"

As he reached for the door, Karin's face turned confused. "…Smashed?"

Renji turned and said, "Yeah!" He smirked at her. "Get ready, you're gonna have one hell of a headache tomorrow." He dashed out of the room, supposedly headed to Ginjou's room to tell him of the miraculous news. But as soon as the door closed, Renji's pace slowed.

The fact that his suitemate had gotten first place was not the only thing on Renji's mind.

Meanwhile, inside of the room, Karin lay on the bed, spread eagle, recalling what had happened

Izuru pointed and whispered, "Look."

Karin followed Izuru's finger to the way upper left corner of the poster.

"Akimoto Haru, 98.85 points. 99th percentile. Pass." He breathed. "You're in first place."

Returning to the present, she wondered out loud, "What is 'smashed' anyway? Are they going to beat me up as an initiation rite?"

Shrugging the thought off, Karin then called Ikkaku.

"Yo, Akimoto. How go your classes? Have you given up yet?"

Rolling her eyes, Karin retorted, "You ask that every time I call, and each time, I tell you, no. Especially now that I've passed the probationary period."

There was a shocked silence on the other line at her proclamation. Karin grinned widely.

"What? You've passed?" Ikkaku said incredulously. "You aren't pulling my leg, are you?"

Forgetting that he couldn't see, Karin shook her head. "Nope.

"Oh."

She was taken aback by his lack of joy. He even sounded a bit… disappointed.

Crestfallen, Karin asked, "…Aren't you happy for me…?"

"No, no, of course I'm happy!" But Ikkaku sounded forced.

"You aren't." Karin said unhappily.

"You're right… I'm not." Ikkaku said reluctantly.

Now Karin was angry. "And why the hell not?" She demanded.

Ikkaku admitted, "I thought that if you failed, you would come and live with me."

Karin was surprised and, even though she didn't want to admit it, touched. "Even if I have all that debt?" Tears threatened to pool in her dark blue eyes, and she had to lie down in order to prevent them from spilling out.

"Of course! You're like my little sister! I'd pay back every penny!"

"It would have been a really, really big debt. Don't you know? You had to pay it back too, didn't you?" Karin managed to get her voice back to normal.

"No. I passed the probationary test, but walked out of my own accord. Because the academics were a pain in the ass."

Though she had been on the verge of crying a minute earlier, Karin suppressed a snort of laughter at that statement. That was so like him. "You're smart, though." She pointed out. "You made half of my identity."

"Yeah, and Zaraki Kenpachi made the other half." He said sourly. "And that's not because I'm smart. I just have good connections."

"Which makes you street smart." Karin finished.

"But not booksmart, which is what you need there."

"It's still street smart here too." Karin argued. "You have to learn how to hack into computers to dust out traces that you were there, for example. You learn that third-year."

Ikkaku snorted. "Yeah. That's about the only thing that's street smart there."

Karin had nothing to say in reply to that. After a bit of silence, Ikkaku said, "Well, you've told me your good news. So I'll tell you some bad news."

"Wait, how does that make sense?" Karin protested.

"Shut up. Your good news was bad news for me, so gotta share the pain."

So Karin huffed but listened.

"Don't sulk. This is actually bad news for me too. Your father's gotten wind that Zaraki Kenpachi helped you. Tell me honestly, does Zaraki Kenpachi know your alias?"

At this news, Karin felt her jubilation of passing the final test drain out of her. However, she answered in a steady voice, "No. He doesn't really know my alias. He just helped 'edit' the Japanese National Database so Kurosaki Karin doesn't exist anymore."

Ikkaku sounded sullen. "I could've done that, you know. After all, I created Akimoto Haru on the National Database."

"All things concerning 'Akimoto Haru' went to you, while all things to do with 'Kurosaki Karin' went to Kenpachi. I chose you to take care of my new identity. That's how much I trust you." Karin pointed out.

"But you didn't want to put all your eggs in one basket, huh?" Ikkaku sarcastically said. But he sounded appeased.

Karin didn't mention that Kenpachi had also helped her deal with her money transfers over several years. He had hacked the bank, so 'Kurosaki Karin's' every transaction – from extracting cash to buying a beverage – didn't leave a single trace. Every track of every single record of credit that had flown in and out of the bank account made to 'Kurosaki Karin,' had been erased.

Kenpachi just took his pay and executed the job, eradicating anything or anybody who got in the way; no questions asked. He probably wouldn't have given a second glace to the very few bank transactions made out to a certain 'Akimoto Haru.'

But if Kenpachi had saved the record of mediating the transfers, he could easily look into her new identity; there was no putting it behind him. Even so, he couldn't know for sure that Akimoto Haru was a male; Haru was a unisex name. And there were only a few, very small sum of bank transfers made to 'Akimoto Haru.' There was no way he could figure that out, right?

But there was always the liability factor.

The hidden joker.

Murphy's law.

And Ikkaku knew it. "Well, if there's any thread of your identity left at Zaraki Kenpachi's disposal, he won't hesitate to unravel whatever the thread leads to and spill his guts about it if your pops pays enough."

On that somber note, they ended the call.

That night, both Karin and Izuru went to Ginjou's suite for the first time. As soon as they stepped foot into the room, they gaped. Bigger bed, bigger window(s), and a significantly fluffier carpet. In other words, a much larger and more luxurious than Karin and Renji's prison cell of a room.

Karin turned to Ginjou, outraged. "How come I've never been here before?" She looked resentfully at Ginjou. "You've been holding out on me!"

Ginjou glanced apprehensively at the connecting door (which was also an apparatus that Karin coveted, the connecting hall between her and Renji's room was open). "My suitemate is a bit of a… um…" He seemed to have a hard time deciding on a word. "…stickler."

Karin rolled her eyes. "As in the 'perfectionist,' or a 'nitpicker?' Or, God forbid, the mysterious sense?"

"Well, both perfectionist and mysterious. Not nitpicky though, even if he does have sarcastic tendencies. We don't interact much." Ginjou shrugged. "But he's not going to be here tonight."

Trust guys to do anything they like as soon as the interference is gone.

Renji dove in, "Where's all the holy water? Let's get down to it!"

This made Karin even more nervous. Was this 'holy water' going to be used in the induction rite? Were they going to dunk her head under the water until she cried mercy? Passed out? They wouldn't kill her, would they? They had gone through so much together, and she thought that they had become friends…

But Keigo and Shishigawara whooped when they broke out some cans. Ganju yelled, "Oh yeah!" The caught the cans enthusiastically when Ginjou tossed it to them.

Karin and Izuru each caught one as well, but less enthusiastically and more bemusedly. She turned the can over in her hands and read out loud, "Asahi…" she had seen this can in the communal staff refrigerator a few times and just assumed it was a carbonated drink… was this the 'holy water' that Renji was talking about?

Ginjou laughed bawdily at her face expression and put her in a headlock. "Have you never seen beer before?"

Shocked, she exclaimed, "What? Beer? How did you – "

He clucked his tongue at her. "We all have our ways…" He winked at her. "How do think Renji gets all those gunhead magazines?"

Karin rolled her eyes and maneuvered out of the headlock with ease. "I don't even wanna know. And I'll have you know that I'm still fourteen! That's four years too early to be drinking alcohol!"

Renji interrupted, "Nope! Today's May 6th! Your birthday! You're officially fifteen!"

Taken aback, Karin realized that since it was past midnight, it technically was her birthday.

"Wait! How did you remember? Even I forgot!"

"Well, I remembered because your birthday is the same day as Karin's!" Renji grinned smugly at her.

Karin herself stubbornly crossed her arms. "Well, still! Even fifteen is three years too early to drink alcohol!"

Ginjou hooked his arms around both Karin's and Izuru's necks. "C'mon, don't be such sticks in the mud! We're doing to celebrate your guys' passing!"

There were several sounds of cans popping, and Ginjou raised his can.

"To Haru and Izuru~ who passed the probationary period! And are officially students of The Jungle!"

"And to Haru's fifteenth birthday!" Renji chimed in.

They all cheered and raised their cans and banged them into each other.

Karin took a sip from the can of beer, and nearly spat it back out.

"YECH! What is this? This is beer? It tastes like… like…" she struggled to find a fitting phrase for what the disgusting liquid tasted like. "Like monkey piss!"

All the other boys laughed, and Ginjou thumped her on the back. "It's an acquired taste that catches on quick. You'll feel the buzz in no time."

"How much you wanna bet that Izuru has the Asian Glow?" Keigo crowed.

Guffawing, Shishigawara said, "I'm betting on Haru being a lightweight."

Frowning at this, Karin downed the whole can, grimacing as she did so, and the boys cheered.

Renji called out to Ginjou, "Oi! Where are the side dishes?"

Ginjou got up from the floor and headed towards his monster of a closet. "Aight aight, I'm getting them. Keep your boxers on." After a moment, he produced dried squid and various crackers and everyone, including Karin, cheered. She would be able to wash out the nasty taste of the alcohol.

Reaching out for a second can, Karin asked Ginjou, "So did you poach these too? Or smuggle them in by bribing?" Her mouth was full of rice crackers. She saw crumbs fly out of her mouth and winced; it seemed like the boys had rubbed a little too much on her.

Ignoring the crumbs as if they were everyday occurrences – which, to be fair, were – Ginjou shook his head. "Nawp. I brought these snacks in with my own two grubby little hands." He indicated the closet where she supposed his suitcase lay.

So he had brought them by his suitcase somehow, Karin realized. Though The Academy was somewhat Spartan, they didn't search your luggage and rooms. Or didn't force you clean up either, she thought, shooting Renji a wry look.

Sipping on the revolting substance thoughtfully, Karin realized that she would have to visit some city when break came around. Her chest was filling out and getting harder to hide with bandages; she was running low on pads as well. And all her boy's clothes were getting steadily smaller.

And on another note…

With her third beer in one hand, Karin was pointing the index finger of her other hand accusingly towards Renji. "You! Why don't you ever clean up after yourself? I'm the one always has to clean up after you in the bathroom!" Her finger wavered a bit and her eyes were slightly crossed.

Renji eyed her over his can of beer. "You're only cleaning up because you mind. I don't mind a dirty bathroom and neither did my previous suitemate, so I don't feel the need to clean up."

Karin heatedly argued back, "At least wipe up your own piss!" The boys sniggered. "Do you know how many times I've walked into the bathroom to take mine and I've stepped into the nasty puddle? I dun care how filthy your room is, but you're sharing the bathroom with me!"

Letting the insults wash over and off of him, Renji leaned back and stretched. "My answer is still no. But you should know that your efforts don't go unappreciated. It is nice to see my handsome visage properly."

Making a sour face, Karin downed the rest of the beer. She vaguely thought that drinking so much beer was a bad idea, but she ignored it on account of the pleasant buzz that she now felt. Picking up another can, she popped it open. "Hey Renji, have the others seen your back? The tribal tattoos?" Even in her quarter-drunk state, Karin realized that she shouldn't say 'wing' tattoos, so said 'tribal' instead.

"We don't start swimming until next year. So nope."

Karin started to nod, but then what he said clicked in. She leapt to her feet. "Swimming?" Her body did not like the sudden vertical movement, and she swayed on her feet.

"Oi, steady now."

"You just drank three cans of beer straight without eating much besides a few crackers. For a first timer, that's gotta be kinda rough." Keigo said, smacking his lips.

"Yeah, take it easy there, buddy." Ginjou said.

Renji looked at Karin shrewdly. "Can it be that the 'great Haru' doesn't know how to swim?"

Slowly, Karin sank back down, trying to process what Renji has just said. She grabbed a whole bag of shrimp chips. Absently, she began to chow on the chips. 'Swimming. Swimming? Swimming!' She tried in vain not to panic. 'If I take my shirt off in front of all those boys…'

Taking a deep breath, she said, "Flip it. I'll just take it when it comes." She finished off her fourth can, and picked up her fifth.

By the time she had set down her sixth can, the overload of beer had calmed her down a bit. So what if she had to swim? She could just learn to swim with a corset on, couldn't she? Pass off the corset as a bullet-proof jacket? And say that she wore the 'bullet-proof jacket' to practice for real life situations. Or hide a hideous scar or something. Yeah, that might work. If it didn't, she could just improvise. Improvise on what, she had no idea. She could think on that later, when her mind was clearer.

So Karin had long forgotten about the swimming issue when Luppi suggested that they sit in a circle and drink around playing Truth or Dare. She wrinkled her nose. "Truth or Dare? Inn't that… a girl's game?" She opened her ninth can of beer.

"Well," Shishigawara reasoned, "We could add a strip component to it as well –"

"I get it!" Keigo exclaimed. "Let's play a Truth or Dare combined with Sip or Strip!"

Karin took a large gulp of alcohol. Even in her tipsy state, the word 'strip' made her somewhat nervous. So with an effort, Karin snorted and made a face. "Any game containing the word 'strip' is played only in a heterogeneous group. What kind of guy wants to see other guys naked?" Anyway, she didn't know what Sip or Strip was. In order to drive the conversation away from 'stripping' she just suggested, "What about we just play *Shiritori?

[*Shiritori: Japanese word game where a player must say a word that starts with the first syllable that was last syllable of the previous player.]

They all looked at her like she was a particularly large and hairy spider. Suppressing a sigh, Karin amended, "Well, I'm just saying that I'd rather play Shiritori than Tooth or Tear and Tip or Trip."

"Truth or Dare and Sip or Strip." Luppi fixed unnecessarily.

Karin rolled her eyes, and tossed aside her ninth can of beer.

Then, Ginjou thought of a good idea. "We could play poker! The loser can choose Truth or Dare, and Sip or Strip! I have a deck of cards!"

Ganju raised his half eyebrow. "What'll we use as chips?"

Fishing out a deck of cards from under his large bed, Ginjou motioned towards the snacks. "We have shrimp chips, don't we?" He looked severely at Karin who had her hand in the chip bag. "No more eating shrimp chips, Haru."

Karin sulkily withdrew her hand from the bag.

"Loser, as in the first one who folds?" Renji asked curiously.

"Nah, then no one would fold. Loser is one who has the worst hand."

"The one with the least number of chips?" Muzuiro suggested.

"Or the loser can just be the one who the winner chooses!"  
"That'll make it unfair! If the same person wins and they have a vendetta against somebody, then the same person will have to – "  
"But that'll make it funnier!"

It was decided. The winner would pick one loser; the loser in turn would have to choose between truth and dare, and between drink and strip on top of that. The rest would just take a drink.

Every one of them piled his hand on top of the others. Karin saw all their expectant faces turn to her. Finally getting tired of waiting, both Renji and Ginjou just grabbed her hand and smacked it on top of theirs.

"DEAL!" They all roared.

After haggling over which version of poker to play, Texas hold'em won out over Omaha.

Ginjou shuffled the cards and dealt out two each, and threw down five cards face down.

Karin peeked at her cards. An Ace and a Jack of diamonds. If luck were on her side, she would get an all-red royal straight. She hid a secretive grin behind her cards.

And sure enough, luck was on her side. Karin pointed at Renji. "Renji!" Her suitemate looked resigned. "Now, what will you choose? Truth or dare?"

Leaping to his feet, Renji answered immediately, "I'm a man! Dare!"

"And for sip or strip?"

He grinned. "Strip! Ya'll will get a chance to see my Ronnie Coleman body!"

All the boys choked on their beer with laughter. If the bulky bodybuilder were a tree, Renji's body likened to a weed next to it.

Renji pulled off his shirt and revealed a sweat-soaked undershirt. The other boys' (at least, Luppi, Mizururio and Izuru) mouths dropped in horror. However, Karin, who already knew how much sweat Renji excreted, tapped her fingers on the silver top of her tenth can before popping it open. "What's the dare?" Renji asked Karin.

Karin looked at the ceiling and pretended to think. "Hm. What about…" she looked at him with sly blue eyes. "Getting tickled for three whole minutes?"

Renji paused, before holding up his hands. "Ooooh, no. No no no no no. I'll do anything but that. Anything."

So that was Renji's weak point. His ticklishness. The boys and Karin looked at each other with enormous grins on their faces.

"I'll hold his arms!" Ganji held Renji from behind.

"I'll hold his legs!" Keigo shouted

The others advanced with evil smiles.  
"No! Noooo! Buwahaahah – "

The only one not participating in the very torturous execution of Renji's dare, Izuru felt very bad for the redhead.

After the three minutes were over, once again, people tossed their shrimp chips in, and Ginjou flopped three cards, then the next, and then the last.

Yet again, Karin won. Tossing aside her tenth empty can, she beckoned to Ginjou with a finger with an evil grin on her face. Wary of being tickled, Ginjou went with the complete opposite that Renji had, choosing truth and to chug down a whole can of beer.

All of the players significantly drunker, they played several more rounds. Neither Ginjou nor Renji won, so Karin was never picked on.

Hours and several cases of beer later, snacks and cards were strewn all over the ground, and a majority of the kids passed out on the ground. Karin and Ginjou were barely conscious.

Only Renji was sober, mostly because he kept losing and choosing to strip instead of sipping. Though Karin was barely awake, she still managed to crawl over to Renji.

"You!"

Taken aback, Renji answered stupidly, "What?"

She stuck her face close to his, so they were almost nose to nose. Unnerved that his suitemate was shoving her face into his, Renji hastily backed up a bit.

"You know *hic* what?" Karin pointed an accusing finger at him. "You *hic* really suck at expressing your *hic* emotions."

Though Renji did in fact know that he lacked in the expression department, he wasn't about to admit to it. He defensively crossed his arms. "And how do you figure that?"

Karin hiccupped, "You get *hic* angry at the person you know you *hic* need to apologize to, for *hic* one."

Renji narrowed his eyes. "That suggests that there's more than one reason."

Her finger wavered, and slightly cross-eyed, Karin said, "Ding ding ding! Correct! But there's no *hic* prize, sorry. Number two." Another finger shot up to join her index finger. "You never, ever, smile."

Renji felt that was an unjust accusation. "What? I smile all the time!"

Karin shook her finger at him. "Nuh uh. You grin. Grinning *hic* is different from smiling. Grinning is what *hic* people do when something's *hic* funny. Smiling, is what people do when they're *hic* happy. And you, *hic*" her dark blue eyes turned sad, "are never happy, not from the bottom of your heart."

With a jolt, Renji realized that this was true. The times he had truly been happy could be counted on one hand.

Renji turned back, all prepared to shoot back with a snappy comment, but his suitemate had passed out after uttering that last statement.

Seeing this, Renji hauled up his unconscious suitemate (who had consumed eighteen too many beer cans) up and picked up his scattered clothes.

Seeing the movement, Ginjou squinted and sat up. "Need shome 'elp carryin' Haru?" he slurred.

"You think you can help me in that state? Up all those stairs? You'd just trip and kill both yourself and Haru." Renji grinned. "No thanks, I've gotten rather attached to my suitie. I'll carry him back. If you want to help, help me get him on my back."

Unsteadily, Ginjou heaved the slender kid onto Renji's back. "Huh. Haru'sh light fer hish height." He frowned, before slumping back on his bed and surveying the mess before him with half-lidded eyes. "My shuitemate… ish gonna kill me for thish."

Chuckling, Renji waved and left Ginjou to sleep.

But Renji's smile faded as he climbed the stairs. Instead, a shadow cast over his face as he glanced over his shoulder at his suitemate's face.

Before, he had suspected it.

Today, he had confirmed it.

His suitemate's eyes were blue.

…

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: ∞_∞ •_• ®_© …writing…(gun)fight…scenes… -dies-
> 
> But yeah, modern gunfight scenes are seriously, so much harder to write than swordfight scenes. ç_ç Odd, as I've seen tons and tons of action movies.
> 
> On a less painful note, there seems to be another man in the mix. :3 At least, 3 years later.
> 
> Thank you again, MissJudged16! :D
> 
> Cue huge applause!


	8. Chapter 8

Disclaimer: Bleach belongs to Kubo Tite.

…

**The Bodyguard**

Mission 8

…

_– The Principle –_

He glanced at his executive protector. The kid had been acting a lot colder lately. He still did his job to the tee – perhaps even more carefully, if that was even possible – but his change in attitude probably – no, definitely – had to do with something about that incident. He felt a jolt of resentment. What did his current self, lack? He had money, a huge inheritance, looks, and a future. Admittedly, he was a bit of a jerk… well, more like a complete jerk to Haru, but still. He had a life. Unlike the friend that Haru had had. Their eyes met. The bodyguard abruptly averted his gaze, which swept over the room once more. Like he needed to. The office was empty save for the two of them.

An idea occurred to him.

He headed towards the shorter man. As he advanced, Haru stiffened and subtly widened his stance, as if preparing to fight.

Smirking, he said, "Don't worry, Haru, I'm not going to attack you."

Haru gritted his teeth. "For the last time, young master, it's Akimoto."

He shrugged. "If I'm your 'young master' then I'll call you however I want, Haru." Placing a hand on the wall over Haru's shoulder, he leaned his face close to the pretty boy. Smirking, he drawled, "Now, what can I order you to do?"

Raising his chin despite their faces' proximity, Haru said in a chilly voice, "I don't take orders from you."

Strange. Those eyes… Did Haru wear contact lenses? Privately filing the fact away, he leaned back. "Oh, right. You take them from my father." He tapped his chin in mock thoughtfulness. "Well, he did order you to follow my orders, so…"

Abruptly, he felt a punch to his gut; he had forgotten that his father had made allowances for Haru to 'use physical means to keep him in line.'

"I know that my employer did no such thing." Haru's brown eyes glinted dangerously at him. "Your father would never give such an irresponsible order. Go back to that desk and do your homework, until you finish all of it. Then I'll let you out to meet one of your…" Haru looked like he was going to say some derogatory term, but instead said, "…female acquaintances."

Trying not to show how much pain he was in, he strained out, "Well, I don't take orders from you or my father, so I'll just stay here, thanks all the same." Casting a look towards his bodyguard, he added, "And you know it's been a while since I met any of those loose women."

He winced and held where he had been hit again. To think that one hit had hurt him so much; when had he gotten so weak? Admittedly, his skills had gotten rusty during the past 3 years. Not without some struggle to look nonchalant, he straightened and leaned against the wall next to Haru.

Though Haru tightened his lips, he made no move to stop his principle. So the principle just stood there beside his bodyguard, until his legs hurt and he had to crouch instead. He propped his elbows on his knees and sighed, thinking ruefully, 'I really need to get back into shape…'

…

_3 years ago_

…

Finally the first year was over.

Karin could hardly believe it; it felt surreal. Or maybe it was her hangover.

She had survived the probationary year of the reputedly brutal training academy. There was a commencement 'speech' from that oddball of a headmaster which consisted of "Good job during the three years, men, and so long, farewell, I needn't say goodbye~" the last words were sung in English as the loony headmaster bounced off the stage.

All the preceptors rolled their eyes, and yet again Preceptor Hirako took over. "To all graduates: you will receive diplomas, and we will send out recommendations to various jobs – "

Tired from the last night, Karin tuned the preceptor out until he addressed the first-years. "To all of you who were first years: if you did not pass the probationary period, you have 48 hours to leave the premises. Within the month, the bill for the whole past year will be sent to your permanent address." There was a sharp intake of breath at this statement. Ignoring this, Hirako Shinji pressed on, "If you have passed the probationary period, you are on break now, and may leave or return at any time during the break like your seniors. Dismissed."

Saluting the preceptors, the students scattered like mice back to their holes.

Back in her room, Karin pondered on what to take. Definitely her suitcase. But should she take the casual clothes she had bought prior to coming to The Academy? She had outgrown them, and she couldn't well wear her uniform out in public. She might as well wear a neon sign saying 'LOOK AT ME.'

She briefly glanced at the the long-sleeve shirt that Renji had lent her fit her better. But it no longer fit him, she found, as when she had offered to return it, he had just shrugged and said, "You can keep it." In the past year, Renji had sprouted up almost 8 centimeters (about 3 inches) to her 4 centimeters (about 1.5 inches). Come to think of it…

"Hey Renji, your clothes are too small for you, right?" Karin hollered.

"…Yeah…" Came Renji's faint reply.

He sounded a little out of it.

Karin assumed he must have gotten 'smashed' as well. She too, that morning, had woken up to cottonmouth and a headache. Well, more like a Sahara desert of a mouth and a hammer inside her skull. She'd thrown up in the toilet, and hadn't even been able to eat breakfast. Then again, all of her friends had seemed rather ill that morning.

Her memories also blacked out after Renji's second stripping. After a moment of thought, she decided that she didn't even want to remember.

So Karin gave up trying to remember what had happened the night before and returned to pondering what to do with all her small clothes. She stood on the bed, holding up pants that were to short for her and the shirts that no longer fit around her chest. Though she had resolved not to return to Tokyo without becoming a certified bodyguard, it seemed like she would have to go to some city to get new clothes, and Tokyo was the city she knew best. Maybe she could stay with Ikkaku.

As she jumped off the bed, she felt a jiggling. She scowled. Her chest had definitely filled out. Not only did she have to buy clothes that actually fit her, she'd also have to find a better way to bind her breasts down. Perhaps a breast-binding corset would do the trick. It was getting too cumbersome to wrap the dang bandages around her chest.

She had also grown enough that she would have to switch to a medium-sized uniform, at least, in the pants. Sticking her head into Renji's room, she asked, "Hey, if you outgrow your uniform, do you have to return it to receive a new one?" His room was messier than usual, which was saying something. He too, had his suitcase out, and was frowning at it.

Absently, he replied, "Yeah. You get a new uniform issued every year."

Frowning, Karin came completely into Renji's room, stepping on the clothes strewn over his floor and some magazines (featuring her and her unknown whereabouts) "What's wrong?" she asked.

She noticed the latest gunhead magazines at his feet. They too, were open at her whereabouts, and theories about why and how she had disappeared. Some said that she had been abducted; others said that she had run away to rebel, citing her mother's death as one of the reasons, the other speculating that her father was abusive. Holding back a frown, she deliberately stepped on that one as she plopped beside Renji on his bed.

"Is it because of Kurosaki Karin?" She asked flatly.

He didn't answer, except to jut his jaw out forward and stare even more venomously at his suitcase, which Karin noticed was quite tattered and worn, as if it were a second-hand. Or third-hand. Or fourth.

A thought occurred to her, and Karin asked more tentatively, "…Is it because you don't have anywhere to go back to but the orphanage during break?"

Renji just closed his eyes and lay back on the bed.

Heaving a sigh, Karin stood back up and waded back through the clothes and started towards her room, saying, "You can go back with me, if you like. I'm gonna stay at a friend's place." Though Ikkaku himself wouldn't know that he'd be getting two surprise guests in the case Renji did accept her offer. Well, Ikkaku's home was practically her home, right?

Yet again, Renji gave no answer. "Just think about it."

Deciding she should just take the bare necessities, she threw it into her suitcase. After a moment of thought, she dug out the wig from under the bed as well. It was all dusty, and Karin looked at it distastefully. She would take it to just leave at Ikkaku's place, and he could do what he wanted with it – burn it, toss it, hell, he could even wear it… Karin snorted at the thought of seeing her bald friend with long, silky hair. She dusted the wig off and looked at it.

Later, she would look back and think she had temporarily lost her sanity, when she hesitantly placed the wig on her head. It was dangerous, but her front door was locked and Renji was lying on his bed. She fingered the long locks; unlike regular wigs, it was made from real hair, so it felt smooth, silky, and for a moment – just one moment – Karin missed being a girl. Shoving away the thought and sighing, Karin took the wig off and tossed it into her open suitcase as well.

She wasn't aware that Renji was watching her. Renji drew back into his own room before she could see him.

He ruffled a hand through his red hair. That was the last confirmation. She looked exactly like Karin in the wig, albeit a little older and more tanned.

His suitemate, Akimoto Haru, was Kurosaki Karin.

He hadn't slept a wink the previous night, and he hadn't processed a single word of the commencement speech earlier that morning. His mind constantly dwelt on the very fact that Haru was Karin. He had lived the whole year with Kurosaki Karin. Renji sagged back onto his bed. He still didn't know what to think. Not to mention that he'd shown all sorts of embarrassing sides to him. Guilt also flooded him when he recalled the beginning of the year, when he had punched her. But he'd also had fun times with her, right? But he'd always seen her as one of the guys until them, but now…

'Aw, screw it. Kurosaki Karin is your suitemate, Renji, you can either mope and sulk about it, or be happy about it.' He told himself.

He was suitemates with Kurosaki Karin. Sure, if she became a bodyguard herself and never returned to being 'Kurosaki Karin,' his dream of becoming Karin's bodyguard would be dashed. At least, de jure.

But not de facto. He could still protect her at her side, as her friend. And that was enough for him.

A smile spread over his face. He would be happy about it, he decided.

Happy indeed.

So Renji shouted over to Karin, "When're you leaving, Haru?"

"As soon as possible!" Karin called back. She looked down at her cellphone. 'As soon as Ikkaku picks up his phone…'

A knocking at the door interrupted her from her thoughts. She went and opened the door, expecting to see a friend, but was greeted by the ever-smiling Ichimaru Gin.

"Preceptor… Gin…?" 'Why is he here?' Karin thought, confused. "What brings you…"

"They asked the preceps which of us wanted to tell you. All of your preceps were fightin' – verbally, of course – for the job, but I won." His grin widened and Karin thought she saw a flash of pale blue between his bangs. "You're popular, arencha?"

Karin asked uncertainly, "Fighting… to tell me what, sir?"

Gin peeked inside her room. "Arencha gonna invite me in?"

Hastily, Karin backed up to let Gin in, but he said in an amused voice, "Nah, I'm just playin' with ya." He pulled out a hand from behind his back and revealed a rolled up paper tied up by a blue ribbon. Confused, Karin looked up at Gin's face. Encouragingly, he held the paper out to her. Karin hesitatingly took it. Was she supposed to open it in front of him? It wasn't proper Japanese etiquette to open any gift that the person received in front of the giver, but this didn't seem like a gift…

As if to answer her uncertainty, Gin said, "Why arencha ya opening it, Haru-kun?"

Pulling at the ribbon Karin unrolled the paper, muttering the words as she read it.

"To cadet Akimoto Haru. Akimoto, you have attained 98.85 points which is within the parameters of 99.9 percentile this year, therefore, you will have the choice of entering into third-year in the coming fall. If you choose to do so, we offer you our sincere congratulations and welcome into your third year…" Unable to believe it, Karin looked back up at Gin. "Is this… for real…?" she whispered.

Gin ruffled her hair. "Of course it is. And you deserve it, Haru-kun." Karin noticed for the first time that Gin's accent nearly faded when he said this. But it came back in full force when he said, "Well, I'll leave ya ta pack now. Bye bye~" Waving at her, he sauntered away.

It was only then that Karin realized that Gin must have climbed up eighteen flights of stairs to tell her this news.

But that didn't suppress Karin's elation for long.

Without warning, she barged into Renji's room, brandishing the paper. Sometime or another, Ginjou had come in, trying to coax Renji to tell him what had been on his mind all morning and afternoon. Unaware of this, Karin ecstatically jumped at them, forgetting that she was supposed to act like a boy. Holding up an arm to prevent Karin from unwittingly attacking him, Ginjou asked, "Whoa, whoa, chill. What's the occasion for this unusual display of excitement?"

Not calming down one bit, Karin all but screamed, "I'm in the same year as you guys! I'm going to be a third-year next fall!"

They both looked at her, mouths agape. The first of the two to shake off his shock, Ginjou enveloped Karin into a bear hug and clapped her on the back.

"I shouldn't be surprised, man! If you passed the exams in first place, of course you'll be able to graduate with us!"

To Karin's surprise, Renji pulled her away from Ginjou with an odd expression on his face. He held Karin to him; his arms felt warm around her as he briefly hugged her. He smiled at her. "Good job." He paused. "Haru."

Karin smiled widely back; she couldn't remember the last time she'd him smile so genuinely, if ever.

Breaking the mood, Ginjou crowed, "Then this calls for another celebration!"

Mouth twisting, Karin objected, "I don't think so. I had a hell of a hangover this morning, and I don't want a repeat."

Punching her in the arm, Ginjou laughed, "Well, then just drink less! I still have snacks. Including your favorite shrimp chips." Ginjou winked and elbowed her.

Then he looked around at Renji's messier-than-usual room. He spied the raggedy suitcase. "By the way, when are you leaving, Renji?"

Renji shrugged. "Asap, according to Haru."

Though surprised that Renji would go along with Haru – he had refused Ginjou's offer last year's break – he just shrugged. His father was unfriendly towards all things about and related to The Academy after all.

After the end of the year party, (which went well over to the next day; Ginjou's suitemate had already cleared out of his room) Karin hastily finished packing and urged Renji to do the same.

In the end, Ikkaku didn't pick up his phone. Karin figured, 'Well, he'll have to cope with two surprise guests, then.'

Bidding farewell to their friends, Renji and Karin carried their suitcases outside. They hopped onto a passing cart going to the train station and got there without much trouble. Karin purchased her ticket. She chanced a sideways glance at her suitemate. She had wanted to pay for Renji's ticket as well, but thought the better of it; that would hurt Renji's pride too much, and she didn't have that much money either.

On the train ride back to Tokyo, Renji and Karin chatted sporadically.

"Did you buy any clothes last year?" Eying his height and wider shoulders, Karin thought that knew the answer to that question already.

"Yeah, but I outgrow them really quickly, as you can see." Renji looked ruefully down at his a-little-too-tight pants and shirt. "So I always buy my clothes loose. Believe it or not, in my first year, I was smaller than Izuru was."

Karin's jaw dropped open. "What? Really? But Izuru was…"

"Really tiny, I know." Renji said drily. Propping an elbow up onto the windowsill, he said, "But he's shot up like a weed too over the past year."

As Karin processed this information, Renji asked, "Hey, I haven't asked you this yet, but exactly whose house are we staying at?"

"Well, an old friend of mine. His name is Ikkaku. Madarame Ikkaku."

'His?' Jealousy shot through Renji.

"He's not expecting us, though." Karin yawned. "He'll be really surprised when we show up at his doorstep though." She grinned sleepily at him.

Renji was about to reply incredulously when he saw that Karin had fallen asleep across of him. That had been quick.

Inwardly, he sighed. Her head leaned against the windowpane uncomfortably. How on earth did she manage to sleep like that? After a moment of hesitation, Renji crossed over to the seat beside Karin. Gently, lest she wake up, Renji placed her head on his shoulder.

"This stop, Tokyo station. Repeat: Tokyo station."

Karin awakened with a jolt. She saw Renji asleep beside her, and briefly wondered how he had gotten there; nevertheless she shook him awake.

"Renji! Abarai Renji! Get your ass up and help me with these bags! We've arrived!"

Standing up, Renji yawned hugely. "Aight aight… I'm coming."

Karin tugged him and her suitcase along the aisle and just barely exited the bullet train before it sped off again.

Wrathfully, she turned to Renji. "We almost missed the Tokyo stop!"

"Well, at least we made it off the train in time." Renji shrugged.

Huffing, she stomped off to the metro station. Amused, Renji followed after her. They boarded the subway headed towards Shibuya district. After going down an obscure and rather shady looking path, Renji found himself in front of what looked like a… garage. Or more like a warehouse.

Karin knocked. There was no answer.

She knocked even more loudly. "Oi! Ikkaku!"

When no one answered, Karin frowned and twisted the doorknob. To Renji's surprise, the doorknob turned without resistance, and the door swung open.

"Ikkaku?" Karin called out. Yet again, no answer. Her brow furrowed even further as they walked down a hallway. "Strange…" she muttered. "That paranoid guy wouldn't leave his door unlocked if he was going out…"  
When they entered a wide space, her eyes widened. Renji surveyed the place, which looked like a storm had ripped through it. It was even worse than his room, and that was saying something.

Karin looked on with horror; the papers in Ikkaku's workshop were usually all over the place, but it had always been limited to the papers. But the room she looked at now had all its furniture upturned. The workbench that Ikkaku always worked at lay on its side, as if somebody had roughly pushed it over.

"Ikkaku?" Karin tried to keep the alarm from her voice. The workbench was not the only thing; the couch lay on its back. Several dishes lay broken on the ground, and the few silverware Ikkaku had were strewn everywhere. As Karin looked desperately around, she saw Ikkaku's cell phone lying under the broken table.

Ignoring the splinters she would get, she swept her hand around under the huge table and barely managed to grab the phone by her fingertips.

Flipping the cell phone open, Karin's heart sank as she saw the call log. Six missed calls.

All from her.

Swallowing her panic, Karin organized the situation in her head.

Ikkaku had answered her call even on the day of her exams. Scarcely two days had passed afterwards. He couldn't have been that upset after hearing that she had passed the probationary exam. To blow up and storm out of his own home? Had he?

Ikkaku wasn't that type of man.

When Karin's eyes swept over the room, among all the mess, she saw a familiar picture frame lying on the floor. Slowly, she stooped to pick it up; past the shattered glass, she recognized the picture. It was a purikura that she had taken two years ago with Ikkaku.

No matter how angry he was, he wouldn't have thrown that picture down.

Then, Renji confirmed her worst fears. "Looks like there was a struggle here." he murmured. "And the place was searched too."

Abandoning all pretense of calm, Karin began to search frantically for something, anything that Ikkaku might have left behind.

Karin looked at the cellphone in her hand, and began to mash away at Ikkaku's phone in vain. After finding nothing, she threw the phone onto the couch in disgust, and moved on to every other electronic device in the vicinity – computer, printer and even the stove – but there was nothing. On the computer, she searched every hardware, desktop, and file, and hacked into every encrypted file that Ikkaku had shown her. Not a trace.

Trying to hold back her tears, Karin ransacked the kitchen, stepping on several chopsticks, and bizarrely, forks. But she could wonder why he had forks when Ikkaku was in front of her. Finally, she spied a single disposable ramen bowl, placed facedown upon the countertop.

"Ikkaku!"

Ikkaku had just demolished his ramen and was sucking on the disposable chopsticks as usual while he looked over various papers for his clients. Not even sparing a glance in the irate ten-year-old's direction, Ikkaku said absently, "Hmm?"

"You've put your ramen bowl upside down again! Karin scolded, stomping her foot for emphasis.

"Aah, shut up. That's just to remind to throw them away later." He continued to chew on the disposable chopsticks, making sucking sounds.

"But you don't throw them away! They've been accumulating for a week now!" Karin protested, pointing to all the upside down ramen bowls scattered over the worktable and the countertop. She snatched the chopsticks from his mouth. "And how many times have I told you that it's unhealthy to suck on disposable chopsticks!"

Heart pounding, Karin turned over the red ramen bowl. Underneath it was a corner of paper with a hurried scrawl that she could recognize as Ikkaku's.

It read 'LatC USB.'

Staring blankly at the English letters, Karin read slowly, "El… Ae… tee, see? USB."

She immediately knew what USB stood for; universal serial bus, which could be plugged into any computer. But the first word remained a mystery. Karin wracked her brains for what the first one could mean. It was obviously an acronym, but despite the fact that she'd learned a fair amount of English from her tutor, English was not her first language. It couldn't be Lord of the Rings… two of the letters were wrong for that… LatC… What did it stand for? Love at the Cafeteria? Legs are to Cast? Last are the Cats? Large are the Caves?

"Haru! Look!" Renji's voice interrupted her broken thoughts.

Whipping around, Karin saw that Renji was hunched over the computer with a pile of flash drives at his side. Karin looked back and forth from the torn piece of paper to Renji. "LatC… Look at the computer…" Karin whispered. "USB…" Karin realized belatedly that she should have known that the acronym 'USB' indicated the computers. Last are the Cats? How much further from the mark could she have gotten? Her mind, drowning in panic, had skipped over the most obvious.

Renji pointed towards the computer screen. "I looked through all of the flash drives, but this was the only one with a password encrypted file I couldn't hack into. I tried everything I could, but…"

Even in this dire situation, Karin felt a rush of pride for her two friends. One, who was skilled enough to create an unhackable disk, and the other who, despite his relatively young age, could hack into all the other disks. Karin assured him, "It's okay. You did well enough to even find the file. I would never have thought of hooking in all these flash drives."

Karin peered at the computer screen. Sure enough, a popup said, 'Password protected.'

"It'll only accept numbers. Does anything come to mind?" Renji asked worriedly.

Karin nodded distractedly. "Several. I guess I'll just have to try them all out." But she wasn't as confident as she wanted to be.

She typed in Ikkaku's birthday, November ninth, in numbers, 0909. A beeping sound accompanied a popup that said 'Invalid password. Try again.' She removed the zeros, making it a 99; again, the computer emitted a beeping noise. Seeing that didn't work, she even added the year, 1979. No dice.

Undeterred, Karin typed in Ikkaku's favorite food, ramen, in numbers translated from cell phones, in both Japanese and English. Still the same popup. 'Invalid password.'

She typed in the name of his previous girlfriend, not expecting much. It was exactly as she predicted. Then she entered in his phone number. Beep. 1979 alone, the year he was born; his constellation zodiac, Virgo; his Chinese zodiac, the sheep… nothing gave him anything other than the same error popup: 'error: invalid password.'

In a last-ditch attempt, Karin typed in the year she and Ikkaku had met: 1999.

To her astonishment, a chiming sounded, and a word document popped up from the encrypted folder.

Heart in her mouth, Karin took a brief look at it, and couldn't bear to read it after the first sentence.

So as much as he didn't want to, Renji read the contents of the word document aloud.

"If you're reading this, they've probably already captured me. He's found out that I helped you and he's coming for me. Chances are, Zaraki Kenpachi will be the one to do the dirty work. This is your fault, you know."

Renji wanted to hit the author of that letter over head at that sentence. Nevertheless, he continued to read, "Nah, that's just a joke. This is in NO way your fault, so don't do what I know you're doing and beat yourself up over it. If you're wallowing in guilt, I'll come after you with a meat cleaver."

This made Renji feel a little friendlier to the person who had typed his letter, but he still felt that the writer's sense of humor was really bad. In his opinion, anything that hurt Karin in the smallest way was bad.

"The reason I'm being targeted is actually my own fault. Before I even met you, I did a sweep of his records, and happened to fish out a skeleton hidden pretty deep in his closet."

Renji frowned. Who was this 'he?' The pronoun 'he' had been mentioned at the beginning of the letter… But he read on.

"It was only a matter of time before he would come after me. To tell you the truth, that's why I befriended you. I know you thought I didn't know your identity when you first approached me on the streets as a kid, but I did. I admit that at first, the fact that you were connected to the Kurosaki family was the reason I didn't just chase you away, like I would have other brats. But you were a cute little kid. And over the years, I really came to think of you as my younger sister. Nothing can change that."

With great difficulty, Renji ignored the whimpering sound. Another part of his mind registered that the writer had mentioned the surname 'Kurosaki.' Was this 'he' connected to her father…?

"If you really want to know the reason he's coming for me, there's one more file on this drive. Honestly, I don't want you to read it, but I feel that you have a right to know. If you don't want to know, then take this flash drive and destroy it. I can't guarantee that it's completely hack-proof. And don't worry, I'll take your secret to my grave. Hahaha," Renji read that transcribed 'laugh' flatly, "that makes it sound like I'll never see you again. But all jokes aside, leave quickly. There's a high probability that this place is being watched."

Swallowing, Renji forced himself to say the last part of the letter. "I'll miss you. I hate saying, even writing this word… but… love, Ikki."

After the last word, Renji looked up to see Karin just standing there, ashen faced.

'Ikki' was what Karin's six-year-old self had shortened 'Ikkaku' into. Ikkaku had hated it, so she had dropped it when she turned seven.

That he had used it meant that he wanted her to remember him the way she thought of him back when she had first met him.

It meant that he would also dwell on all their happy times.

It meant that he believed that he would never see her again.

Though silent, tears began to streak down Karin's face. After a moment, unable to help himself, Renji drew the weeping Karin to him. She was too shocked to protest. A soon as the warm arms enveloped her, Karin broke down. Renji held her as she cried openly, her sobs wracking her body. Every sob that carried through her body echoed through his, making his heart wrench in pain. Closing his eyes, Renji tightened his arms around her. 'Don't cry, Karin. Don't cry…'

Later, Karin sat on the single bed in the motel room that she had mutely paid for.

Though she numbly noted that Renji had spared her from asking whom that 'he' in the letter was, the majority of her was shell-shocked that 'he' – her father – would do such a thing. Sure, he had been distant and estranged from his children after her mother's death, but she had believed that deep inside, he was still a fundamentally good person. He wouldn't… kill… Ikkaku, would he? She looked down at the flash drive in her hand.

Though she had thought herself brave, she realized that her bravery extended only to situations of physical harm – not emotional harm. The truth was that she was afraid to look at the contents that would, most likely, incriminate her father. Even though she didn't want to look at it, she had brought it out of Ikkaku's home; she just couldn't bring herself to destroy it. It was the only trace of Ikkaku she had left.

Well, that wasn't quite true, Karin thought as she looked at the purikura on top of the bedside table. She was thankful that Renji didn't ask about that as well; she wasn't sure how to answer. Looking at the pictures that she had borne out of Ikkaku's warehouse, Karin thought back to her thirteenth birthday, when they'd taken the picture.

A newly thirteen-year-old Karin walked through the arcade section while hugging the huge Totoro that Ikkaku had won for her from the claw machine. She spied a picture machine. Excited, she tugged on Ikkaku's sleeve and pointed at the machine. "Look Ikkaku! A purikura machine! Can we take a picture?"

"Hell no." was the short reply.

Karin's face twisted. She glared at Ikkaku. How could she make him take a picture with her? Deciding to first try the cute route, Karin stuck out her lower lip, as she'd seen Yuzu do countless times to beg for something. Then she gave Ikkaku what she thought were puppy-dog eyes. "Aw, Ikki… Pretty please?"

Ikkaku looked incredulously down at her. "Stop playing cute. You suck at fake pouting. And pouting doesn't suit your face."

Immediately dropping the cute act, Karin went the second route; the angry route. She demanded, "What! You're not going to listen to my one request on my thirteenth birthday? The first day I've left my 'tween' stages?"

Pointing at the Totoro under her arm, Ikkaku said, "You were staring at that thing, so I got it for you." Ikkaku tried to push past her. Scowling, Karin blocked his path.

"I didn't ask this from you! And for your information, this thing is Totoro."

Ikkaku glanced warily at the picture machines. "Che. What man'll take those?"

"Oh?" Then she'd just have to choose the third option: goad him into it by prodding at his pride. Swiftly, Karin looked around and luckily saw two boys entering a purikura machine. They'd unwittingly help her complete 'get Ikkaku to enter a purikura machine with Karin'mission.

"Look, there're two men." Though they technically weren't men yet. She gave Ikkaku a sneaky look. "Or are you too grown up?" She gave a theatrical sigh. "Well, you are nearing your thirties, so I suppose that you are a bit old for this. You just can't keep up with the social trends these days, I suppose." She peeked at him through her bangs as she said, "Almost like an old geezer."

She saw Ikkaku redden with anger. Smiling slyly, she thought, 'That's right… There we go…' He went over to the machine and practically shoved the cash in. Stomping into the machine, there was a pause before he stuck out an arm through the machine's curtain and furiously motioned her over.

Grinning, Karin skipped over.

After a bit of effort, she'd finally gotten the sulking Ikkaku to smile for the last picture. After the machine had deposited the two copies of the three pictures, when Ikkaku thought Karin wasn't looking, he'd grinned and pocketed the picture.

Karin sighed and smiled sadly at the memory. She had the other set of purikura in her room back at the mansio –

Karin's blood ran cold and the small smile that had momentarily graced her face vanished.

Was that how they – her father – had tracked Ikkaku down? How he'd connected her to him?

Once more, a terrible guilt rippled through her. But she couldn't afford to cry in front of Renji again – not after her lapse from before.

So when Renji came out of the shower, Karin acted as if nothing were wrong.

She sat on the edge of the bed, rummaging through her suitcase for her wallet, which she had absently stowed away somewhere after paying for the motel cost. Maybe she should take a leaf out of other males' books and put it in the back pocket of her jeans, no matter how uncomfortable it felt.

"What are you looking for?"

Karin jumped at Renji's voice. She slammed her suitcase shut and gasped, "Renji! Don't scare me like that."

It was then that Renji realized that her nonchalant behavior was all a front. If she had really returned to normal, she would have sensed his presence. But if he showed his concern, Karin would simply get angry with him. So he bit words of worry back and played along. "So Haru, what's the plan now?"

Forcing thoughts of Ikkaku from her mind, Karin thought for a moment before saying, "I suppose that we'll have to go clothes shopping…" her face contorted in distaste.

Renji seemed to sympathize completely as he grimaced. "…Um, can't we do that later…? There's plenty of things to do in Tokyo…"

Looking pointedly at his clothes, Karin said drily, "Sure, if you want to walk around Tokyo looking like an overgrown J-rocker, tight-pants and all." As Renji wilted at that very true statement she gave a mock sigh. "There's no choice but to go, I'm afraid. We're both growing boys."

Renji snorted, but seemed to realize something, as he gave Karin a half-glance. "Uh, where will we be getting the clothes…"

Rummaging through her suitcase once more, Karin said absently, "The department store, of course." Pausing in her search for her wallet, she glanced at him and asked him apprehensively, "…unless you …" She trailed off, unable to finish the sentence, which consisted of the words 'can't afford it.' Instead, she said tentatively, "Or we can go to a thrift shop." Her voice and face expression became more resolute. "Yeah, that's sounds like a good idea."

But Renji only looked surprised, and pleasantly so. He stumbled over his words. "N, naw. A department store. That's fine with me."

Karin regarded Renji with confused eyes, but was too relieved that he hadn't been offended to pry any further. She returned to searching through her suitcase.

In all honesty, Renji was staggered; Karin hadn't even thought of going to a brand-name store. Kurosaki Karin, the daughter of Kurosaki Isshin, the extravagant CEO of Kurosaki Armament.

"Aha!" Karin fished her plain black wallet out.

But he should have known that the girl he had once known as 'his male suitemate Haru' would want desperately to be less ostentatious. He continued to stare at her with wonder as she shoved the wallet into the back pocket of her jeans.

Karin muttered, "I should buy a wallet chain. Or get a murse…"

Baffled, Renji asked, "Murse?"

Without looking at him, Karin simply said, "A man-purse. A murse." Though it was an odd abbreviation, Renji decided not to question her.

Now that Karin had found her wallet, she and Renji left for the nearest department store.

On the subway ride to the department store, Karin remembered all the times Yuzu had dragged her into brand name clothing stores. Her nose wrinkled at the thought. She already hated being the rich kid, but to parade it around with Diesel jeans? Tiffany jewelry? Tory Burch flats? Chanel handbags? Burberry trench coats?

No thank you. Why spend all that money when she would grow out of them soon enough anyway?

The only brands Karin wore, if any, were Nike, Puma and Adidas.

She hated to make Yuzu cry, but after one particular shopping session where she had been dragged around from shop to shop, she had told Yuzu in no uncertain, nor pleasant, terms that she just didn't do brand names. Afterwards, Yuzu had burst into tears. The gunhead tabloids had eaten that up, reporting that a "rift between the twins" had developed.

Isshin had always been bothered whenever Karin blatantly wore her punky, brandless clothes at the few dinners he shared with his family. And he'd been very vocal about it, shouting at her for not dressing up even for the rare evenings he had time off. Even Ichigo wasn't as bad as Karin; he dressed up when Isshin deigned to dine with them.

That was why she had taken every chance she could to go about to regular civilian areas with Ikkaku.

Karin's heart clenched tightly when she thought of Ikkaku again. But she could hear his voice clearly in her head, telling her, 'stop moping, it doesn't suit you.'

'Yes… What Ikkaku would say in this situation is, 'I just got unlucky… ' Get a grip, Karin. Ikkaku would hit you over the head if he saw you like this.'

So she didn't mope. Not openly, anyway.

Once they arrived, Karin turned to Renji. "We should split up from here. It'll be faster." She stated.

Puzzled, Renji asked, "Why?"

Karin drily swept her eyes over his torso. "Because you're bigger than me."

"Not by much." Renji pointed out. As much as he was loath to admit it, Karin was a scant few inches shorter than him, a difference far less than he'd hoped. He'd been at least half a head taller than the Kurosaki Karin in his dreams, if not more.

But he would grow, wouldn't he? Boys' growth spurts went on much longer than girls' did.

Unaware of his thoughts, Karin gave Renji an exasperated look. She said, "You have more muscle mass than I do."

But Renji still did not comprehend. "Your legs are about the same length as mine."

Karin mentally facepalmed. She hadn't wanted to say this outright, but Renji was apparently too dense to take the hint, giving her no choice. She squared her shoulders. "Your waist to hip ratio looks and probably is… different from mine. Your waist is larger, but your hips are… just a tiny bit smaller."

Renji swallowed audibly.

Oh. They'd studied the different bone structures of males and females in their anatomy class, and Renji realized that women's hips were indeed larger than men's, because they needed to…

"Uhhh… Okay. Let's." Renji could only manage one-word sentences before he robotically turned around and headed towards who knows where. He faintly heard Karin call out after him, "I'll meet you out at the front at four!"

When Renji was out of earshot, Karin exhaled deeply. She looked around the vicinity, realizing too late that as a bodyguard trainee, she should have done that as soon as she had entered the department store. She was one of the third years now.

As her eyes flickered back and forth, she noted the number of people. It was a department store, so she couldn't possibly expect for there to be nobody around; in this economy, there were more housewives than ever. But it was before 5 o'clock, so there weren't enough people to give her odd looks.

So Karin headed towards the corset section.

After what seemed like an age of edging through thousands of risqué corsets, Karin finally spotted the kind that bound chests down. Karin took two, hoping she could get away without wearing the corsets in her room by wearing enormous shirts.

Next, Karin went to get toiletries and some sanitary items. She tossed several packs of pads into the basket, and grabbed a bottle of contact lens cleaner.

At the mercifully lineless checkout, Karin received an odd look from the male cashier, but there were too many teenaged girls in Tokyo going for the androgynous look for him to be overtly suspicious, so it passed without incident. For the first time in ages, Karin was relieved that her exotic pretty-boy face had allowed her to pass as a girl, albeit one who had passed the tomboy stage and plunged headfirst into the stage of boyish-beyond-return.

Burying the more feminine products into her plastic bag, Karin quickly went to the boys' section to hunt for clothes suitable for a growing kid. When she found that they were all a bit small, she passed into the men's section. She realized she couldn't afford to try them on in the dressing rooms lest she be discovered, so she had to just eyeball them and take a chance. If they were too loose around her waist, she could just put on a belt (which she had yet to buy). If they were too long, she could just fold them up, no matter how silly she looked. Who was she trying to impress?

The back of her mind said that there was someone, but Karin shrugged it off as a human instinct to just want to look attractive for the opposite sex.

By the time Karin had found a suitably small belt size (not without some difficulty) and had paid for the male clothes, it was already 3:40. On the way out, a jewelry stand caught her attention. She paused. She'd never been one much for jewelry, but she'd always worn chokers. Her hand reached out to a thin wiry silver one, with a single hematite drop dangling from the front, when she sensed someone watching her.

She stiffened and looked around out of the corner of her eyes. Casually, she took the necklace off of the hook from which it hang and turned around, as if to examine it. But what she examined wasn't the necklace; she examined the vicinity around her as she subtly widened her stance in the case she was attacked. She sensed a person from behind a shelf to her left… Placing the necklace back into place, Karin whistled as she sauntered over to there. Though it was far from the case in the Bodyguard industry, the best defense was an offense in conventional fighting.

But when she reached the space behind the shelves, there was nobody. Karin no longer felt the presence.

Who had it been?

Shrugging off her unease, Karin dismissed it as someone who had thought it strange that a boy was looking at jewelry. How did regular boys shopping for anything even remotely feminine deal with the odd looks that elder people gave them? Granted, they weren't hiding an enormous secret and therefore had very little to be paranoid about.

She was already considered a pretty boy among her peers. It would get worse if she wore a necklace. Sure, a few guys wore necklaces, but those were guys who also walked around half-naked, showing off their abs.

Come to think of it, she should buy a hat, Karin decided. There was still 15 minutes left, plenty of time to buy a hat. With her situation, a hat would be an excellent investment.

What she hadn't noticed was that Renji had been the one watching her. Though Karin excelled at detection skills, unconsciously, she was still shaken by Ikkaku's disappearance; she hadn't noticed his presence in time.

After Karin had left to buy a hat, Renji went over to the area that Karin had stood moments before.

At four, as promised, Karin met Renji at the entrance. Renji raised his eyebrows at her flat brim hat, which was red.

"You look… very gangster."

Karin waved off the tone that suggested Renji didn't like the hat on her and asked in a semi-casual voice, "Does this hat cover my face?"

Reluctantly, Renji said, "…Yeah." He asked, "Why red?" He wasn't sure the red would be best color if she didn't want to be noticed.

Pulling the hat down over her eyes, Karin shrugged, "Red's my favorite color."

Oh, right. Renji should have remembered that.

Keeping a hand on the brim of her hat, Karin muttered, "Now I understand why the headmaster is so attached to his hat." Noticing Renji's alarmed look, Karin hastily added, "Not that I'm going to follow his example. Anyway, the school regulations don't allow hats, don't you remember? I'm just saying… it's convenient if you want to hide…" She realized what she had been about to say and changed tracks at the last second, "from the sun. Yeah. From the sun."

Remembering Ikkaku once again, Karin quickly turned her thoughts away from hiding her identity. She should just enjoy herself, because that was what Ikkaku had protected, and paid such a high price for.

Karin leaned back against a large showcase of the department store and glanced around. "It's a little past four… We have several hours to kill before dinner…" The brim of her hat turned towards Renji. "You got anything in mind?"

Renji blinked, surprised. He still had trouble reconciling his playful suitemate Akimoto Haru with the Kurosaki Karin; that Karin would ask his opinion came to him as a curveball.

"Uh… What is there to do in Shibuya? The orphanage I was sent to was in Ginza. I've only been here when I was 6…"

Karin mused, "Well… there's Hachiko* for one…"

[Hachiko: A statue of a loyal dog named Hachiko, who waited for his master even after his master had died.]

Renji snorted and Karin conceded, "Okay, Hachiko's kind of boring," she started to tick off her fingers. "Tokyu Hands, the Loft, Seibu, Marui," She frowned and stopped ticking off her fingers. "But those are all mainly fashion districts… We could go to Shibuya Ward Library – " She abruptly cut herself off. That library belonged to the government. And her father had connections there. "On second thought, let's not. I'm not in the mood to read right now."

She wracked her brains to think of some other Shibuya attraction. In her desperation, she said the first thing that came to mind. "The Dougenzaka!"

As soon as the word left her lips, Karin mentally slapped herself. The nickname for Dougenzaka was the 'Love Hotel Hill.' She hastily listed the next venue that came to mind. "Oh, I know! Let's go to Center Gai! There are arcades, so we can play games there."

But Renji had a question.

"What's Dougenzaka?"

Karin grimaced. "You don't have to know."

…


	9. Chapter 9

Disclaimer: Bleach belongs to Kubo Tite.

…

**The Bodyguard**

Mission 9

…

_– Karin –_

After briefly adjusting her tie, Karin stood at attention, preparing herself to meet her new Principle.

Sensing her trepidation, her employer said gently, "There's no need to be nervous. He was a good child."

Key word: was.

As if her employer had read her mind, he sighed and shook his head. "But in his current state, he is pitiable." After a moment of thought, he added, "And a bit wayward."

Wayward.

From what she had heard from her fellow bodyguards, that was a severe understatement. He had chased away every bodyguard assigned to him, to date. According to some members of the bodyguard force, he was the devil incarnate himself.

Though Karin was sure that wasn't the case, it just went to show how skilled in fighting he was, as well as how atrocious his actions were.

Both employer and bodyguard waited, the employer with a resigned face and Karin with baited breath. Then Karin saw the first set of automatic doors open. A figure walked closer, towards the second set of sliding glass doors.

"Aaand, here comes the protagonist – or the anti-hero, if you will." Her employer murmured.

Then the set of glass doors slid open. Karin's eyes took the young man in, and immediately understood why he needed a keeper.

He was nothing like what she'd seen before at The Academy. Back at The Academy, he'd been confident, sure of himself, who he was.

Now, his hair was no longer black.

His shirt was rumpled and messily buttoned, his hair ruffled as if he had only just woken up, and he had shadows under his eyes.

He was a complete wreck.

And he didn't even seem to recognize her.

…

_3 years ago_

…

No matter how much physical training they had received at The Academy, spending a whole evening at Center Gai without having dinner turned out to be a big mistake. It was only after eating from Sapporo Ramen (at 9 o'clock) that Karin and Renji recovered enough to drag themselves back to the motel. They collapsed on the single bed.

Then Renji realized that he was sharing a bed with Karin. He abruptly sat up.

"I'll take the floor." Renji said.

Karin looked at him, confused. "Why? Even though it's a single bed, there's room for two. There's no reason you should sleep on the floor."

Inside, Renji grimaced. There was no good reason he should take the floor, not if they were two guys.

He settled for sleeping on the edge of the bed, as far away from Karin as possible.

So it would turn out that he woke up feeling uncommonly warm. Confused, he cracked his eyes open. His eyes shot open as he saw Karin's sleeping face right in front of him. He carefully took inventory of their body positions. Somehow, even though he had taken care to sleep on the edge of the bed, he had gotten turned around and his limbs were tangled with Karin's. His heart pounded.

But despite his self, Reni took the chance to examine Karin's face. He couldn't believe that she had passed for a boy for a whole year. Sure, they had thought he was a pretty boy, but those long eyelashes, small face and plump lips? How could they have missed that there was a girl in their midst? Sure, she was unevenly tanned, but that was because she had spent so much time training in the sun. Well, the short hair made her look much more boyish too, but that couldn't have possibly allowed her to pass for a boy.

Except she had.

Maybe it was because she was tall enough to pass as a boy that she had been able to blend in perfectly. Or maybe it was because she had kept up with the boys. He had noticed her training extra hard. Had that been in order to avoid suspicion of being a female?

But he should have suspected her ever since the first time he had seen her assemble that handgun so easily. Of course she would. She was a daughter of the CEO of a firearms company. That explained why she knew so much about guns, though it was puzzling that she had so much trouble shooting them. Maybe that had been a façade as well.

He began to carefully extricate himself from her limbs, but before he could complete the task, Karin's dark blue eyes sleepily opened. She stared at Renji blearily. Then her eyes shot open and she scrambled back, almost falling off the bed. She seemed to realize that her overreaction was kind of odd, then grumbled, "Errgh… You sure thrash in your sleep."

Playing along, Renji shot back. "Speak for yourself."

Karin shoved her feet into her shoes and said, "Are you sure you don't swing the other way?"

Knowing she didn't mean that, Renji said loftily, "I'm not even going to deign that with an answer."

Karin refrained from saying that he already had answered. Instead, she asked, "Anything you want to do today?"

Rolling his eyes, Renji replied, "I told you yesterday. I don't have any idea of what Shibuya has to offer. Or the whole of Tokyo, for that matter. All I did was wander around the streets when I was a tiny brat."

Karin cast an annoyed look in his direction. "I meant what you wanted to do. Like, do you want to loaf around and sleep all day, go to an amusement park, go exploring Tokyo, pig out all day, or even leave this motel to go somewhere else, like Kyoto or Osaka." Grabbing some fresh clothes, she headed to the bathroom.

"Hm. I'm torn between pigging out and going to the amusement park." the redhead mused.

"We can do both, if you like. Pig out at the amusement park." Karin came out of the bathroom, wearing black basketball shorts and a loose red shirt that matched the hat she bought the day before. Picking up the hat and securing it on her head, she looked in the mirror and commented, "Hey, my head is red and I don't look so handsome. I look just like you." When Renji didn't retaliate with a snarky answer, Karin knocked him in the arm. "We can even go to Tama-city."

Renji looked at Karin curiously. "What's at Tama-city?"

Karin shrugged. "Oh, just Sanrio Puroland. You know, the theme park with all the hello kitty stuff. You would like that." He saw a sneaky grin from beneath the hat; she was still poking fun at Renji's sexual orientation.

Forgetting for a moment that she was 'Kurosaki Karin,' Renji playfully grabbed her in a headlock, knocking her hat askew. "What was that?"

Once Karin had maneuvered out his hold, she straightened her hat, and said, "I was actually thinking Joypolis." She grinned. "There are lots of fighting and shooting games. And I've heard that the virtual racing game is good."

But Renji saw the grin lacked its normal brightness. Happiness.

That computer expert's disappearance… it could even be death… Karin would be heartbroken if that were the case. But he couldn't deny it was a high probability.

All he could do was pretend that he didn't notice the distress that he could see and go along with whatever she wanted. He shrugged and said, "Sure."

So here he was, looking up at a monster of a roller coaster. It had two loop-de-loops, twists, even a segment that went upside down.

Karin looked at it with a wide grin, and Renji grinned weakly back. All too soon, Karin had stored her red hat in the side box and he was pinned to the front seat of the coaster car, gripping the safety bar tightly. With a tremulous voice, he asked, "Th…this… Are you sure that this is completely safe?"

Shrugging, Karin said, "Yeah." After a pause, she added nonchalantly. "Well, there was one case of a man falling out and plummeting to his untimely death, but that was three years ago."

Before Renji could even react to that horrifying statement, the starting announcement blared and they were off.

Like all other roller coaster rides, they had their picture taken during the ride. When Karin paid for the picture, she took one glance and had to stifle a laugh. In complete contrast to Karin's face of exhilaration, Renji looked downright terrified, like he was in a horror movie.

Keeping a straight face, Karin offered the picture to Renji. "Here you go. Your expression here is lovely. You look like you're enjoying yourself."

With a rather red face, Renji snatched the picture out of her hand and shoved it into his wallet. Though his face in the picture was embarrassing, he knew that he would treasure the picture itself.

He spotted a cotton candy booth. He had let Karin pay for both their entrance tickets on the condition that she would let Renji buy the 'pig-out food.' Figuring cotton candy could be the first course (well, not exactly the first course, but a snack, at least), Renji headed towards the stand.

A few minutes later, Karin and Renji each held a cotton candy considerably more voluminous than their heads.

Karin looked at hers bemusedly and took a huge bite out of it. Though her eyes widened from the terribly sweet taste, she said considerately, "It's been a long time since I've had anything this sweet. They would never let us eat these at The Jungle."

Renji nodded in agreement as he also attacked his cotton candy. Immediately, he crinkled his face. "Argh… How do people eat these? And why?" He made to chuck his cotton candy into the nearest bin.

But Karin's quick reflexes saved the cotton candy from landing in the trashcan. She looked resentfully at Renji. He had spent money on it, yet he still intended to throw it away? Not on her watch. "Well, the sweetness is just right for me, so if you're not gonna eat it, hand it over."

Since she said that, she was forced to eat both of them, so by the time she finished eating all the cotton candy, she felt rather ill, not unlike the time she'd had a hangover.

When they approached the next ride, one that passengers hung from, Renji gulped. Seeing Renji's fear, Karin looked at him worriedly. "Hey. You don't have to go on, you know? I've already figured out that you're scared of these rides."

Renji violently shook his head. "I'm not s-scared!"

Amused despite herself, Karin said, "If you say so."

So they were strapped in, and Renji missed the previous ride dearly. At least his feet had been on something solid the whole time. But not for this ride…

After going onto nearly every ride (Renji had fought not to hurl several times), and playing all the virtual games, they had milked their tickets for all they were worth, and decided to go back to their motel.

The next day, at Renji's suggestion, they checked out of the motel and went to another city, to which Karin readily agreed. She had no will to stay in Tokyo; not after what happened to Ikkaku. Anyway, staying in Tokyo just increased the chances of her being caught by her father. He took a flier listing various attractions in Yokohama, and immediately, the Shin-Yokohama Ramen museum caught his eye.

He pointed it out to Karin, and briefly, she hesitated.

Numerous times, she had visited that place with Ikkaku, due to his obsession with ramen, which was second only to his love for onigiri. Ikkaku did love junk food, Karin thought.

Though going to someplace she had been to so often with Ikkaku pained her, facing the pain head on would desensitize her to it, Karin reasoned. She would have to accept that Ikkaku had… disappeared.

So she would deal with it. She took Renji to the ramen museum, eating ramen for brunch and dinner.

When they went back to the motel they booked in Yokohama, Karin said, "I don't want to eat ramen for a long time. I feel ill just thinking about curly noodles."

Wearily, Renji nodded in agreement.

Every time they went out, Renji secretly looked at gunhead magazines, and looked at the articles. The issues about Karin's disappearance were dying down, and there was only one small column about her.

Though it was small, it made a mention of her dreams, what she wanted to be. He read, 'We all assumed Kurosaki Karin wanted to become a football(soccer) player. But did she really? She might have wanted to become a martial artist. A mathematician. She might have wanted to become an officer, living her life on the field. Or did she want to become the heiress of Kurosaki Armament? But after her mysterious disappearance, it seems that we will never know.' The writer was Honshou Chizuru.

Above all this, there was a candid shot of a younger Karin laughing, supposedly at what someone said. He hastily shoved it back where he had found it when Karin approached him bearing two ice creams.

After a few days of loafing around, Karin said over a dinner of pizza, "Don't you think it's getting kinda boring out here?"

Renji didn't quite think it was boring to hang out with Karin, but vocally, he agreed. "Yeah. We've basically been doing nothing."

"Then let's go back to The Jungle. At least we can train there. Though we'd have to get up at 5:30 everyday…" Karin grimaced.

Renji nodded. Karin assumed that he was tired of accumulating more 'debt' with her, though she was doing it quite willingly. After all, she did have more savings in her account than Renji's allowance from the orphanage.

Speaking of the orphanage, Karin briefly wondered how Renji had come to be so book smart and street savvy in a cloistered orphanage. She could understand the street smarts… but where had he learnt enough to get into The Academy? Had he won scholarships to go an elite middle school? Though those questions ran through her brain but didn't quite make it out of her mouth.

Given some quiet time to think on the train ride back to Shizuoka, Renji too, was bursting with questions. But he bit his tongue and swallowed his questions. Only Karin could answer those questions, and right now, he wasn't supposed to know that 'Haru' was, in fact, a girl.

He had plenty of time to deduce how and why Karin had run away; she had mentioned something about her father being against her becoming a bodyguard… Anyway, the precise reason why he had been thumbing through various gunhead articles was to find out exactly what had driven her away from her luxurious home and to such a harsh environment. Why did she want to become a bodyguard, even going to the lengths of pretending to be a boy? What had this Ikkaku found out that warranted an attack on him? Who was this 'he' that Ikkaku had referred to?

He didn't think any of the articles would be of much help; most of the time, the tabloids exaggerated and completely made up things. But there were some articles that had an inkling of the truth. Diamonds in the rough, to say, like the one that Honshou Chizuru had written.

So Renji resolved to dig through his clothes to find every magazine with what seemed like remotely like the truth. He winced at the thought. All his clothes… He had accumulated a massive amount of clothes, on account of his neverending growth spurt. He gave Karin a sidelong glance. Well, as long as he was only a few inches taller than Karin, having an extreme growth spurt wasn't such a bad thing. He hoped to dear deity to continue to grow until he was at least half a head taller than Karin.

So when they arrived and climbed up the 18 flights of stairs, Renji began to painstakingly organize his clothes into ones that were too small for him and ones that either fit him or had bought this year to accommodate for his inevitable growth spurt this coming year.

Karin saw this and asked in a shocked voice, "Is the apocalypse coming? Is it the rapture?"

Rather offended but having nothing to say back – even he knew he was messy – Renji settled for giving her a dirty look. He said, "I had this urge to just… uh, organize, you know?"

Karin gave him an incredulous look before she withdrew her head back into her own room.

She noticed these days that Renji had been acting a bit strangely. Not only was he suddenly cleaning his room, he didn't roughhouse with her as much – no, for the past few days, he'd barely roughhoused at all; if she didn't know better, she could swear he was treating her more carefully.

Karin shook that thought off. He probably viewed her in a different light after she'd skipped second year. Smiling smugly to herself, she started unpacking as well.

From then on, they both woke up by 5:30, with either Karin kicking Renji awake, or Renji shaking her awake. To pass the day, both Renji and Karin sparred. On certain days, they sparred the disciplines that they shared together, but other days, they went to their separate instructors and implored them to teach them more moves.

One day, after wheedling the drunken fist martial arts instructor to spar her, a thought occurred to a thoroughly bruised Karin. She called, "Hey Renji."

Renji stuck his head into her room. "Huh?"

"Was what you learned first year different in second year?" Karin asked.

"Well, the shooting was the same, and you caught up with us in martial arts… but the academics were different. I think they rotate it every year."

Karin frowned. "Then what about the third years?"

Shrugging, Renji said, "Since we didn't share any classes with third years last year, I assume they learned something completely different."

"…And…?" Karin looked at him, expecting him to continue.

"Well, in first year, we learned about…" Renji scrunched up his face. "Uhh, I can't remember. If I can't even remember them, you don't have to worry about it."

Karin frowned. Though she wasn't crazy about studying any more than she had to, she at least had to go through the basics. Sighing, Karin stood up. She had no choice but to ask Preceptor Tsukabishi himself.

When the mustached Preceptor saw her 'eagerness' to catch up with the other third years, he pulled a handkerchief and started crying into it.

Alarmed, Karin immediately held up her hands saying, "N, no! No! It's okay. You don't have to teach me. You don't even have to tell me –"

To her dismay, the muscular preceptor gripped her hand with both of his. "I am weeping because of your zeal to learn." Letting go of her hand, he raised both his arms in a '*banzai' position.

[*Banzai: an exuberant expression of triumph or joy.]

"Alright! I will teach you myself! Follow me!"

Karin found herself being dragged off by the undeniably larger and therefore stronger man.

Now she had to complete a whole year's worth of lessons in a mere month and a half, because The Academy started in early July. Karin gripped her pencil tightly at the thought of other high schools giving their students three breaks, resulting in practically four months worth of breaks.

All The Academy Trainees got one measly month and a half.

"If you grip that pencil any tighter, it's gonna break."

Glaring at Renji, Karin said, "Shut. Up."

"Hey, it's not like I told you to go ask Tsukabishi to teach you and give you mounds of homework." Renji shrugged.

Karin dropped onto her bed and moaned, "I'm tired of it all… I wanna sleeeeee… eep!" she squeaked when Renji threw himself down beside her. He stretched and yawned widely, almost sending Karin tumbling off the bed. "Hey!" Karin retaliated back by pushing a hand into his face and pushing his shins with her feet. "Get off… my… bed!"

He snuggled into her pillow. "Nf."

Indignantly, Karin sat up. "No? Then I'll go take over your bed!"

"Fine with me… Your bed is more comfy." was Renji's muffled reply.

Moodily, Karin stood up, about to stalk over to his room, when she happened to glance at her watch. She groaned. "6:25… Time for dinner…"

Turning around, she tugged at Renji's ankles. "C'mon… Let's go down, I don't want to go to bed hungry because we're a snitch too late."

Renji hugged her pillow tighter. "Nufh."

Karin pulled with some more force. "Come! On! We have less than five minutes to dash down eighteen… eighteen! Flights of stairs!" Karin yanked ferociously, and Renji came along with the pillow and most of the sheets as well.

Finally dragged off the bed, Renji reluctantly got up to his feet and the both of them staggered down to dinner.

About three weeks passed on routinely, waking up at 5:30, briefly exercising, going to eat breakfast, hardcore exercising plus sparring, and book worming with Tsukabishi until dinner.

But at the month mark, Karin realized with a jolt that she still hadn't solved the problem of… swimming.

With a mind not influenced by alcohol, Karin immediately knew that swimming with just a corset on wasn't going to cut it. After snapping on her corset in the bathroom, though it looked like a deflated black life jacket, she saw it still showed a faint trace of cleavage, albeit severely suppressed.

She ruffled a hand agitatedly through her hair, wracking her brains for something she could do to go undetected through the year.

From then on, every waking moment, all Karin could think about was swimming. Should she just go with wearing the corset and fob off the cleavage as what, pectorals? What else could she do? Swim with all her clothes on?

Karin stopped.

Swimming with her clothes on. That was a good idea. Sure, it would be extra hard, but it might be possible. Maybe the preceptors would swallow the excuse of 'practicing-for real-life-situations-which-are-necessary-for-the-bodyguard-business' for her swimming with her clothes on.

The problem was if she was actually capable of swimming with her clothes on.

When Preceptor Cifer came to check on them the next morning, she asked him where the swimming pool was located.

Renji's eyes flickered towards her.

Like always, Ulquiorra Cifer regarded her with unreadable eyes. But nevertheless, he informed her about the whereabouts of the pool.

So later that day, Karin went down to the basement and followed Ulquiorra's directions.

Like the shooting range, the pool was also gargantuan. If Karin wasn't mistaken, it was even bigger than an Olympic sized pool.

Not caring that she didn't have spare clothes, Karin dove into the water. And immediately sank like a stone.

Fortunately, she found the strength to fight the water and her waterlogged clothes to flounder to one the edges. Even that small effort had Karin panting.

Either her muscles had no effect under water, or this was on a completely different level than regular swimming.

As Karin clung to the edge, she recalled that she had never been much of a swimmer. Actually, she was somewhat nervous of even entering into water. She recalled an incident when she was young.

They had gone for an outing at a meadow beside a river.

_"Karin-chan! You shouldn't go out too far… Daddy told us to be careful…"_

_Karin scoffed. "Don't be such a wimp Yuzu. Ichi-nii goes out this far."_

_"But Onii-chan is stronger…"_

_Fueled by the mention of Ichigo, Karin ignored her twin and waded out to the deeper waters. Ichigo was her older brother. Her ideal. The unattainable pinnacle of her life._

_The back of Karin's mind told her that she was being reckless, but her pride suppressed her better judgment. So she waded out further, further, and further until she had to tread water. But she drifted away, along with the current. Karin tried to go back, but found that she couldn't; the current was too strong. Her legs grew tired and she could no longer tread water properly. She tried to breath in whenever her head was above the water line, but even that was getting more and more difficult._

_"Karin!"_

_She felt strong arms grab her around her waist and haul her through the current._

_Once she was out of the water, Karin coughed out water and took deep breaths of air._

_"Karin… I remember clearly telling you to be careful."_

_Karin turned to Isshin._

_"Ol' beardy…"_

_Isshin sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. "I don't even expect 'father' from you, but why can't you to call me 'Daddy' like Yuzu does? 'Ol' Beardy' makes you sound like a rougher version of Ichigo."_

_Karin crossed her arms. "I'll call you dad when you act like a proper one." Embarrassed, she looked to away, "Which you have today. Thanks, Dad."_

Recalling times when family relations were better, Karin sighed and let go of the edge, attempting to backstroked to the other side of the pool, though she gave up halfway and flipped over to use a sloppy hybrid 'style' that combined freestyle and breaststroke, as well as dolphin kicking. Not wanting to risk going to the deep end of the pool lest she drown herself, Karin stuck to free styling clumsily in the shallower waters, where she could walk back to the three-foot marker.

All too soon, she became tired and lugged herself out of the water and squelched up to her room, leaving puddles behind wherever she walked.

When Renji saw Karin's drenched form, he became alarmed. "Karin!" then he grimaced at the mistake.

But Karin was too tired to notice the slip of his tongue and dully answered, "I just came back from trying to swim with my clothes on, if that's what you were going to ask." She grabbed a very baggy shirt and a fresh pair of basketball shorts, and slogged into the bathroom to take a shower.

After that, on days where she wasn't badgering her martial arts preceptors to show her some new moves, Karin started practicing swimming with her corset and spare uniform on. Like the first time, Karin found it difficult. Very difficult. It was difficult to even doggy paddle. Her clothes weighed her down, and she often found herself gasping for air for the few moments her head was above the water surface.

After one such torturous session, Karin sat at the edge of the larger-than-Olympic-sized pool, panting. She muttered, "It's just… one hurdle after another…"

"It is, innit?"

Surprised at the voice, Karin instinctively jumped back into the pool. Despite the renewed heaviness of her clothes, she resurfaced and spluttering, saluted. "Puh, Preceptor guh, Gin! L, long time no-o s-see, sir." she coughed out.

Gin's smile faded a little, seeming mildly dismayed at her startled reaction to his voice. "Is my presence that alarming to you, Haru-kun? I'm hurt."

Karin coughed out again, "No-o sir. It wasn't particularly you."

Gin's trademark smile snapped back into place, though this time from amusement. Again, Karin wondered when she'd become able to discern what the preceptor's smiles meant; they didn't look much different. He remarked, "Well, I was wandering in the area and I saw ya practicing how ta swim with your clothes on. Ta be honest, ya looked like ya were practicing how ta drown."

Fighting back the urge to submerge under the water up to her eyes, Karin mumbled as way of excuse, "I'm, err… not quite good at it yet…"

Gin looked up towards the ceiling, as if he were thinking. "Well, yes, it sounds quite difficult. Let me see if it is."Without warning, he took off his shoes and dove into the water. Karin turned her head as water splashed over her. When she turned her head back, however, Gin was nowhere to be seen.

"Preceptor Gin?" Karin said. Not a ripple. Karin called out, "Preceptor Gin?" Nothing. Karin was beginning to get a little alarmed. "Gin?" She started swimming out to where Gin had dove into the water. Panicking now, Karin shouted, "Gin? Gin!"

Suddenly, she felt a hand around her ankle pull out a foot from underneath of her. She barely had a chance to take a sip of air before she plunged into the water.

She thanked her lucky stars that this had only been at the eight-foot marker. Performing a sluggish frog style, she was able to shake off the vice-like grip and make it to the five-foot mark. Bursting to the surface, she saw Ichimaru Gin standing some ways off, smiling sneakily at her.

Clutching at her heart, Karin gasped, "Preceptor Gin!" She coughed. "Are you like that with all of your students?"

Preceptor Gin smiled teasingly at her. "Ah~? Ya added the honorific again." He made a look of mock disappointment. But he avoided the question.

Taking the red herring, Karin realized that she had left out the honorific in her desperation. In her desperation, she had left out the title 'preceptor' and simply called him by his given name: Gin. Karin hung her head and murmured, "Sorry, Preceptor Gin. I didn't mean to – "

She felt a hand ruffle her hair, causing water droplets to splash all over the place. "I actually preferred it when you called me 'Gin.'" Karin looked up and saw Gin smiling down at her, his silver hair plastered to his cheeks and his neck. But it was an inscrutable smile; it was almost like they had returned to when they had first met, when she hadn't been able to read him at all.

Karin now knew for sure that his eyes were pale blue, as they were gazing into her own eyes. They stood there for what seemed like an eternity, and Karin felt a flush creeping up her neck before Gin brushed past her saying, "It is really difficult… Haru."

As Karin turned around to look at him in confusion, he added, "The part about swimming with clothes on, that is."

He hoisted himself out of the pool with surprising agility. Karin noted that his eyes were back to slits, as he brushed his silver bangs out of his eyes. When he took off his shirt to wring it out, Karin caught a glimpse of quite a set of abs, for one so lanky and thin. Throwing the shirt over his shoulder, he picked up his shoes and saluted her playfully with a shoe before he sauntered off, leaving a faint trail of water behind him.

Bemused, Karin stood in the water, staring after the mysterious preceptor, until she shivered from the cold.

"Brr." She clambered out of the water and shook herself out like a wet dog. She looked in the direction where Gin had disappeared. "He's an enigma, that one." Thoughtfully, she looked back forward. "…Gin…" She drew out the name, testing it on her tongue. "Gin." Again. It felt kind of odd, but not in a bad way. Finally, she shrugged. "Well, it means silver, so it definitely goes with his hair."

Shrugging, she wrapped herself in a towel and lumbered up to her room.

Another couple of weeks passed and the other kids began to arrive one by one. Ginjou arrived a scant day before classes started.

"Jeez, your old man really hates your attending The Academy." Renji remarked.

Ginjou had just spooned in a huge mouthful of hot soup. Karin and all the other boys grimaced in sympathy as he painfully forced it down his throat. After he had managed to swallow the scalding liquid, Ginjou made out, "Yeah… My old man will probably send me to secondary ed." With a long face, he moodily speared a toothpick into a poor watermelon cube doomed to a ravenous fate.

All the other kids shrugged. "Well, I plan to attend university too."

"Me too."

"If we choose to go to college, The Academy will send out the recommendation letters to corporations that need bodyguards after we've graduated from college."

"Always need a back-up plan." Keigo took a bite from his (all-organic) sandwich.

Karin gave a sideways glance to Renji who was staring blankly at his tray. Mizuiro elbowed Keigo hard in the ribs.

But Karin had something in mind. "Hm. Doesn't The Academy reward scholarships to the top ranked? The top five?" She thought she heard that somewhere. "Or was that just a rumor?"

Shishigawara shrugged. "Dunno."

It seemed that Luppi did know, however. "It's switched to the top three, now. And the amount will differ on the ranking. First gets the most, third gets the least. Though even third place…" Luppi whistled. "It's still a considerable sum."

So there was hope for Renji. If he made it to the top three, that is. Pushing the rankings from her mind, Karin looked around. "By the way, where's Izuru?" She asked.

Some of the boys looked regretful, others nonchalant. "Only you made it into third year. He didn't get an offer."

Karin couldn't well gasp at that, as most girls would have done, but she was very sorry for her friend. So that was why Izuru looked so down at the party celebrating her becoming a third year along with the others.

Then Izuru couldn't join them for most of the day, as they had a completely different schedule in combat, academics, as well as mealtimes.

Well, Izuru had drawn a bit out of shell over the course of the year, so Karin just had to trust that he could make new friends. If not, they could always meet after classes ended, couldn't they?

On the first day, they had to turn in their old uniforms to trade them in for new ones. Sure enough, Karin had sprouted enough to graduate from medium pants into medium-large pants, though they were very loose around her waist. It was a relief that all the pants had drawstrings.

Moreover, Karin noticed – not without some discomfort – her friends had all caught up to, or even surpassed, her height. She was no longer the 'tall kid.' Though some of them still had the same leg length, the boys all had longer torsos than she had. So most of them transferred to a larger shirt size, while she still stayed at small.

"Oho~ you're not the tall one any more Akimoto!" Ganju crowed.

Keigo winked and elbowed her, "Maybe it's because you're around 3rd years?"

"Ah, shut up." Renji said loudly. "He still has longer legs than we do. And he's younger than us, remember?"

As the boys acknowledged this and the topic died down, Karin was grateful that Renji had defended her, although unintentionally.

What she didn't know was that it wasn't unintentional.

…

Character Profiles (updated)

Name: Kurosaki Karin  
Age: 15 years  
Height: 5'7.5"/171.5cm (Status: still growing)  
Bust/Waist/Hip measurements: Not-known-but-about 30.5" when-not-bound/27.5"/34.5"

Name: Abarai Renji  
Age: 17 years  
Height: 5'11"/180cm (Status: still growing)

Name: Ginjou Kuugo  
Age: 17 years  
Height: 6'1"/185.5cm (Status: still growing)

Name: Kira Izuru  
Age: 15 years.  
Height: 5'5"/165cm (Status: still growing)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: Aight, this chapter was a little shorter than normal? I can assure you that this will not be the case for latter chapters. ç_ç
> 
> Again, many thanks to MissJudged! :D


	10. Mission 10

**The Bodyguard**

Mission 10

…

_– The Principle –_

Eight ambushers in all.

Were they the underlings or the hitmen of drug dealers, (and perhaps pimps) who held a grudge (for whatever reason) against him? Or perhaps fools who thought they could get some cash if they held him hostage? They certainly didn't seem like the usual run-of-the-mill type lackeys; these men were too subtle, too well trained. His eyes narrowed.

Was he really their target?

Mid-battle, Haru's eyes widened. Almost as if he had recognized one of the attackers.

Was _Haru_ the target?

It was a possibility; most of the men were aiming for his bodyguard. But then again, when the attackers saw how strong Haru was, they usually tried to take him out first. He kicked an attacker and grabbed another by the collar and knocked him out. All the while, he studied Haru's movements out of the corner of his eye.

Usually, if they were lackeys with only the intent to abduct, Haru struck strong enough to knock them out, to haul them back and question them before they turned them in. If the attackers were hitmen, he matched them with killing intent in order to protect his principle.

But now, Haru's movements were slower, weaker, as if he were in shock. As if he was torn between silencing the men forever and letting them escape. So he followed suit and slowed his attacks enough to allow them to get away. Once they had gathered up their incapacitated and unconscious comrades and retreated, Haru stood there, shell-shocked.

"How did they find me?" Haru whispered in disbelief.

This was the first time after _that incident_ that he had seen Haru so vulnerable. And it hurt him.

…

_3 years ago_

…

Their timetables changed to training, breakfast, academics, training, lunch, _more_ training, _more_ academics, and _then_ dinner, after which they were blissfully free. Technically, at least. As long as the academics preceptors didn't pile homework on them.

All the third years were resentful that they had to train _before_ their breakfast. As they went to the training ground, Ginjou yawned hugely. "Wh-why can't we be like the seniors in America?"

Karin found herself yawning in response. "Wh-what're American third years like?"

Mizuiro answered, "Oh, I've heard they finish their applications to universities the previous year so they can slack off all they like in senior year. They call it 'senioritis.'" He said 'senioritis' in very precise English.

"Well, all the people with this 'senioritis' can go shove their heads down a toilet." Renji said grumpily.

What 'training' referred to was one-on-one training with a preceptor, to be rotated every week as to get every student roughly acquainted with as many martial arts styles as possible. At the end of the week, they would take exams for how much they'd learned, and marks would be given depending on what level of proficiency, if any, they had reached.

Karin found that a month and a half of break _had_ made her rather soft. So by the end of the three hours of being assigned to the Long Fish style had her drenched in her own sweat.

Breakfast brought them back to life a little, but they were immediately whisked off to academics, taught by none other than Ulquiorra Cifer himself.

"…I will start with mathematics."

Ulquiorra looked around at the students' faces, ranging from depressed to skeptical. "For those of you who don't know how to apply the previous mathematics you have learned in real life, you will by the end of this year. Period." He said all this with an expressionless face and a monotonous voice to match… but Karin got a feeling that Ulquiorra was not someone to mess with.

"Then I will teach you discrete math."

Karin fought back a groan. She had dreaded discrete math – a very misleading name. Karin liked to think of it as terribly indiscrete – better yet, glaringly – difficult math. Ulquiorra's eyes flickered around, taking in the ashen faces around him. "Discrete math is necessary. Now; take notes on what I say – "

Resigned, Karin took out a notebook and began to take notes, trying hard to concentrate on the monotone voice droning on, and on, and on…

After the academics, which left them very drowsy (Keigo had the rings of his notebook printed on his face due to falling asleep on them), Karin had to train with the Long Fist preceptor once _again._

The third years found out that they were forced to train under the searing heat the hard way. As the training went on, the hotter got, until it was positively sweltering near the end.

Karin's uniform, which was a jumpsuit (with long pants, no less), stuck to her skin making her sweaty and sticky; not only that, but her cursed corset _added_ to her misery. After training for three hours straight, she felt its weight; not only did it limit her mobility, it was also another padding around her torso, essentially baking her alive.

It was the same torture after lunch, and Karin swore that her face and arms were fried by the end of training.

"What's up with the weather this year? It wasn't like this last year…" Keigo complained.

Slumping on the nearest classroom chair, Ginjou grunted, "Again, climate change. The westerly winds are shifting – "

Ganju interrupted, "Okay okay, we get it."

" – resulting in extreme weather, basically annihilating the four seasons to two. No spring, no fall. Just summer and winter…"

Keigo likewise interrupted, "Yeah. This year, it's _really_ hot… Definitely global warming. It's sweltering out there. Thank goodness for AC…"

"I swear, they gave us this schedule just to torture us. Training before, _and_ after lunch? What the hell are they doing? Trying to make us throw up?"

"…Last year they didn't make us train under direct sunlight…"

Karin's forehead only rose from the desk when Preceptor Gin came into the classroom.

Gin glanced around, looking amused. "Well, well, we have quite the steamed bok choy here, don't we?"

' _A little strange, but a very apt expression.'_ Karin thought wryly, seeing all the wilted students, very reminiscent of the boiled Chinese cabbage.

"Yep, you're stuck with me for one more year. I'll be teaching ya'll how to apply the discrete math Ulquiorra teaches ya." He motioned to a flat device that Karin hadn't noticed before, due to her exhaustion from her previous training session. When he opened it, Karin realized that it was a laptop. "As some o'ya probably already know, discrete math is required for programming… and hacking."

He suddenly snapped the laptop shut. "But until ya learn enough discrete math'matics for ya to actually utilize 'em, I'll just review the defensive tactics ya guys learned last year." His smile a bit sly as he added, "And maybe I'll teach ya some _real_ battle tactics, like ambushing, raiding… But for today I'll dismiss ya, ya'll look bushed."

As the students filed out all too gladly, Karin chanced a glance at Gin. She caught him looking at her, and she quickly looked away.

After a long shower, Karin collapsed wearily on her bed. She tried to be cheerful. "At least I've finished Tsukabishi's crash course…"

But when Karin closed her eyes, the forced cheer succumbed to the darkness of the inside of her eyelids. Like always, in that darkness, Ikkaku came to mind. Opening her eyes, Karin opened a drawer in her bedside stand and she drew out the USB.

Karin turned the small item over and over in her hands. Clenching it in her fist, she curled up and went to sleep.

She slept so deeply that she didn't even stir when Renji sat down on her bed and wiped away a lone tear that trailed down her nose. Ever so softly, his lips brushed her cheek. "It'll be better soon." he whispered. Karin shifted slightly, and her lips curled up slightly, as if she were dreaming a good dream.

The next day, Karin woke up to her skin feeling like it had been savaged with a scrub brush. She kicked aside her blankets and went into the bathroom to get ready for classes. But she stopped and stared when she saw her positively crimson reflection.

"Gnaghhh!"

Alarmed, Renji awoke and rushed to the bathroom door and began to bang on it. "What! What is it?"

At Renji's voice, Karin hurriedly put her contacts in and pulled on her uniform, wincing whenever the clothing brushed against her red, raw and sunburned skin. And when she pulled the door open, Renji's fist came down to bang on the door again.

Instinctively, Karin turned her head just in time to avoid a blow to her nose. Her cheekbone was not so lucky.

Even after the first training period, Karin's cheekbone was still throbbing, and now swelling up into a green mountain. It was much like when she had first challenged Ginjou, even though it didn't hurt nearly as much. Nursing her swollen cheek over the breakfast table, Karin shot Renji a dirty look. "I appreciate your concern, but I'll thank you not to bang on the door too hard. Better yet, do me a favor and refrain from banging at all."

Renji hung his head.

After the next training period, Karin felt more sunburnt and sore than ever. Her cheek had jarred with every kick she had practiced with Long Fist style, she had gone to the infirmary for some pain relief. After taking a painkiller, she received an ice pack for her cheek (not without a scarily gentle smile from Nurse Unohana). Holding the ice pack to her cheek, she morosely picked at her chicken salad. Apparently, her peers felt the same.

Keigo groused, "I'm completamente brûlé…"

"You _do_ realize that ' _completamente_ ' and ' _brûlé_ ' is a mix of Italian and French, therefore nullifying your point to mere babble…?" Luppi pointed out, though he sounded considerably less acrid than usual.

A very red Ginjou groaned, "What he means is that he feels like the _homo sapiens_ equivalent of crème brûlé… Except not nearly as tasty…"

"Ugh, now I want crème brûlé." Ganju pressed his cheek against the comparatively cool table.

"Not me. Not in this hot weather. I'd prefer shaved ice." Mizuiro too looked uncharacteristically miserable, his face permanently flushed from the sunburn.

Shishigawara snapped, "Stop complaining! We're _all_ completely burnt! Look at us! We look more lobster than human!" He motioned to the rest of the people at the table, all with utterly crimson skin.

"None of you have bruised cheekbones _on top_ of sunburned skin. So shut it." Karin said sullenly.

"At least you've _got_ an _ice pack_." Keigo pointed out, but quailed under Karin's wrathful expression.

That the third training of the second day took place inside the building was an immense relief; like last year, the firearms training began on the second day.

This year, they would learn how to shoot guns with longer ranges.

The preceptor had silvery-gray hair just as Preceptor Gin did, except his looked more rough, as if he'd dyed it. He stood behind various types of large guns, several of which Karin didn't recognize.

Karin frowned.

Had they manufactured new guns since she had entered The Academy?

The preceptor spoke, "I'm Muguruma Kensei. You may already know, but this year, you will move on to rifles, which _obviously,_ have longer barrels than shotguns do."

He looked as bored as he sounded. "I trust you know the physics behind guns and bullets; Newton's laws, acceleration, etc. If not, then I suggest that you go to Tsukabishi and request that he tutor you." His voice gained a hint of irony. "I'm sure that he will be more than happy to comply."

Recalling the exuberance with which Tsukabishi Tessai had crammed a whole year's worth of lessons into her head in a mere month and half, Karin agreed wholeheartedly.

Preceptor Kensei turned his head to look around at the students that barely numbered twenty. Karin noticed that he had 3 piercings his left ear, not to mention his eyebrow piercing. _'Coupled with his hair, looks like we have ourselves a rogue preceptor.'_

Kensei's pierced eyebrow twitched. "Tousen asked me to remind you that you will use these guns only to protect people. But face it, your principles will not all be saints." He made a typical shrugging motion. "In fact, most of the principles that you're hired to protect are _not_ saints. They're either very famous… or they've made a hell of a lot of enemies to need your protection. If your principle goes willingly into danger and orders you to look out for him and snipe anyone, you will have to do it, if you want…" He rubbed the tips of his fingers together, "…the money."

Kensei motioned down at the various guns in front of him.

"We'll cover AK47s, Colt variants, and the M15 series… Including some illegal guns. But I won't tell if you don't."

He looked nonchalant as he said this, as if he were confident that no student would squeal. And of course, he was correct. No gunhead in his right mind would give up the chance to touch, much less shoot, illegal guns, which had been outlawed were considered so deadly.

"Let's see… what else will we cover in this class… we'll aim at moving targets." Then he added, "And of course, I'll oversee your swimming skills too."

At this, Karin gulped, and Renji cast her a sidelong glance.

Kensei clapped his hands. "Alright kids. Let's get started!"

Later that day, Karin vehemently stabbed her chopsticks into the cucumber-and-brown-rice sushi that had been oh-so-generously donated by the headmaster. As she shoved it into her mouth, Ginjou asked with weary awe, "Gee, Akimoto… How do you have enough energy to even be able to _get_ angry?"

Karin tried to answer while partially swallowing the cucumber roll but choked. From across the table, Renji watched resentfully as Ginjou pounded her on the back to help her get it down. Drinking some water, Karin then properly articulated what she wanted to say. "Nothing."

Tearing off a strip of dehydrated (that is, dried) mango, Ginjou stared at her, skeptical. "Nothing? Is that what you wanted to say at the risk of inhaling your food? That can't be what's bothering you." He shrewdly said, "Tell me. It was the part about where Muguruma mentioned swimming, wasn't it?"

Karin almost jumped out of her skin. She looked at Ginjou, alarmed. "H, how did you – "

Ginjou scoffed. "Last May, remember? When we all got hammered? You screamed like a little girl when Renji mentioned swimming."

It took a second for Karin to recall her disastrous birthday 'party.'

"Oh, uh. Yeah." Had she made a big fuss about that? Everything before she blacked out was kind of hazy.

Ripping off another strip of mango, Ginjou said smugly, "Be honest, Akimoto. You don't know how to swim."

His smug tone bothered her. "Don't be an idiot. Of course I know how to swim!" Karin defended, but there was a tremor in her voice.

Ginjou grinned. "Then why is the mighty Akimoto so afraid?"

That stumped Karin, but not for long. She decided to be honest, at least, partially. She tried to look forlorn. "…I… want to try something new."

Raising a brow at her, Ginjou prompted, "…And this new thing you're trying…?"

Despite how lacking the sushi roll was, Karin popped another one in her mouth said, "Try swimming with my clothes on." Though she tried to say it lightly, the bruise on her cheekbone (not to mention the sushi in her mouth) belied that attempt.

At this declaration, all of her friends looked at her like she was an inmate fresh from an asylum, though it might have been because she had sprayed rice all over their food.

Tentatively, Keigo asked, "Uh, have you _tried_ to swim with your clothes on?"

Taking into account her bruise this time and gingerly chewing on her third piece of sushi, Karin nodded.

Renji backed her up. "Yeah, he's been practicing all summer."

Rolling her eyes, Karin said, "Please, Abarai. Don't even _try_ to suck up and make me forgive you for this morning's _accident._ I'll be a dog with a bone with that one for at least a week."

At that, Renji clammed up, causing their friends to snicker.

The week passed, and Karin finally let up on teasing Renji about the incident where he had accidently pounded on her cheekbone. However, Renji still couldn't forgive himself. Seeing her suitemate so depressed, Karin playfully slapped him on the back. "Relax, Renji. It's no biggie." She pointed towards her cheekbone, the swelling finally starting to go down, the bruise now fading to a lovely red-purple. "See, it's nearly healed."

Renji grinned weakly at her.

Karin frowned. "Don't _do_ that." She hooked her thumbs at the corner of his mouth and yanked upwards.

Temporarily forgetting that she was _Karin_ , Renji jumped up and yelled, "Ow! Wha' de hell wath tha' for?"

Karin firmly kept her thumbs at the corners of his mouth, pulling them even wider apart. " _Smile_ for me. Don't just jerk a halfhearted grin. Show some teeth."

Finally getting her thumbs out of his mouth, Renji gagged. "Yuck... Fingers in my mouth…" He rubbed his cheeks, which were stretched and red.

Meanwhile, Karin looked disgustedly at her thumbs. "Oh yeah? What about my thumbs? They were in _your_ mouth! They're practically coated with your saliva!"

"That was by _your_ choice!"

They glared at each other, but after a moment, simultaneously burst out in laughter.

Later, at lunch, she casually seated herself on the other side of the table from Renji and motioned for Ginjou to come sit beside her. Ginjou grinned at her and set his tray beside hers. "Why dost the exalted Akimoto beckon to me?"

Failing to suppress an amused smile, Karin propped an elbow on the table. "Remind me when Renji's birthday is? It's on the last day of August, right?"

Shoveling a spoonful of clam chowder into his mouth, Ginjou nodded. After he had swallowed, "Why?" It dawned on him, and a smile spread across his face. "Ah. You wanna throw a party."

The smirk on Karin's face answered all of his questions.

From across the table, Renji noticed that Karin was smiling at what Ginjou said, followed shortly by laughter. He felt a stab of annoyance.

What was really happening was that Karin was asking where Ginjou obtained all his snacks.

"I bring some myself but mostly, I infiltrate the staff room to get them. I think they make it intentionally hard, because we have to be sneakily skilled."

"Skilled in sneakiness, you mean." Karin pointed out.

"Same difference." Ginjou returned to attacking his soup.

Karin pondered for a bit. "Hm. I guess we should raid the staff room then. We should keep track of the times when they're all out."

Waving his hand, Ginjou dismissed that comment. "Psh, I already got those times down."

Raising an eyebrow, Karin asked, "Oh? What times then?"

Ginjou looked around, checking if anybody was listening. He whispered. "Meet me at the staff room's back door at 11 o'clock."

Karin was taken aback. "Back door? I didn't even know there _was_ a back door."

Ginjou clucked his tongue and shook his head with mock regret. "If you don't even know the back entrance to the staff room, then you don't deserve to go there… Too bad."

Indignant, Karin whispered heatedly, "Wait! Ginjou – "

But Ginjou had already engaged into a conversation with Shishigawara. Karin silently fumed.

Well, she'd just find out herself then.

Skipping her post-dinner combat practice, Karin snooped around the staff room. She carefully avoided the security cameras; it was like second nature to her.

But no matter how thoroughly she searched, Karin couldn't find this supposed 'back entrance' to the staff room. Had Ginjou led her on? He _was,_ after all, a trickster.

After another futile ten minutes of looking at every nook and cranny, Karin gave up and sat down on the marble floor, leaning against the wall of the staff room, not caring that a security camera was staring straight at her.

When she was about to get up, she saw familiar shoes walk into her line of vision. Quickly, Karin looked up. "Gin…" Belatedly, she added, "Preceptor."

Gin actually chuckled. "You can drop the honorific when we're alone, you know."

Karin failed to notice that his dialect had faded.

He asked, "What were you looking for?" His grin turned catlike. "Oh~ you were looking for the back door, weren't you?"

She considered denying it, but she saw no point in making up such an obvious lie. Karin met his eyes steadily. "Yes, sir."

Beckoning for Karin to follow, Gin walked into a dead end. "Call me Gin." He stretched out an arm and pushed the wall of the dead end. "It's here." He gently pushed Karin in. "Go on."

Karin's mouth dropped open. It was a storage room filled purely with… snacks.

"The preceptors… have all this?"

Gin shrugged. "Well, it exists at the headmaster's command. But most of us don't eat it, so some might be over the expiration date… but if you look carefully, you'll find some tasty stuff." Reaching over, he grabbed a bag of shrimp chips. He opened it and snapped one between his teeth. "My favorite is shrimp chips." He offered Karin some.

Karin grinned and took one. She said, "They're my favorite too." She popped it into her mouth.

Gin smile gained some mirth. "That's something we have in common." He held out the bag with more emphasis. "Take as many as you want, Haru."

When she realized that Gin had left out the customary 'kun,' Karin almost dropped the handful of shrimp chips that she had been greedily taking from the bag. She stared up at Gin.

Stuffing the shrimp chips into her pocket (she couldn't well put it back in the bag or stuff them all in her mouth) she looked Gin straight in his open pale blue eyes. "Why… do you treat me differently…" she paused, hesitating. "…Gin?"

Yet again, Gin smiled the inscrutable smile at her.

"You're so dense… Haru." Gin leaned down and whispered in her ear, "Your secret is safe with me."

Straightening, he smiled and walked past a shell-shocked Karin.

That night, Karin lay awake in bed, trying to decipher Gin's words. It seemed that he wasn't speaking about his showing her the snack storage… he had looked too serious for that.

A terrible thought struck Karin.

Had he found out about her gender? Or worse, her true identity?

She rushed to the bathroom to look in the mirror.

Beyond her fading bruise, did she still look like Kurosaki Karin?

Individuals, nor the people surrounding them, couldn't judge whether their appearance had changed over time. Karin could sneak into Renji's room and compare one of her old pictures to herself now. Yes.

Silently entering Renji's room, she carefully picked up a magazine that had a picture of her on it, back when she had just turned 14.

She had bangs back then. Her hair in general, had been long before Karin sheared it all off in the privacy of her bathroom. Looking back and forth from the picture to the mirror, Karin saw that she had become significantly tanner with rougher skin. Her eyes looked smaller, due to her lack of eyeliner. Her face was thinner; she had lost some of her baby fat (more like she no longer had any fat on her body as she had exercised it all off). Her body was more muscular and tall.

Yes, she looked significantly different from her 14-year-old self, Karin decided.

She made to put the magazine back until she spotted an article written by Honshou Chizuru, one of her brother's high school classmates. Since Chizuru had interacted directly with a Kurosaki, she tended to write close to the truth.

It was an article about her, portraying the relationship between her and her older brother.

' _Kurosaki Karin always called her older brother, Kurosaki Ichigo,_ 'Ichi-nii.' _Just by that, one could tell how close she was to her brother. As Kurosaki Ichigo's classmate in tenth grade, I have seen Ichigo even rush out of class when he heard that Karin was ill. When I asked him about it later, his excuse was 'Karin never complains, so other people doesn't know when she's in pain… but if she's sick to the point of other people noticing…' he trailed off right there, but one can guess what he would have said next. And this was from the lips of Kurosaki Ichigo, renown to never speak of family affairs, even when as the designated heir of Kurosaki Armament. Even now, when his younger sister has disappeared, he does not speak about his younger sister. Could it be that even he has no idea as to what has happened to Kurosaki Karin?' Article written by Honshou Chizuru.'_

Karin closed the magazine and carefully placed it back in Renji's room.

Truthfully, she had known that Ichigo had suspected that something was up with her; it hurt her to admit it, but she had intentionally not told her siblings. Especially Ichigo. She knew that Ichigo wouldn't tell, but if she had told him, she would have weakened too much. There would be too many ties to her old life. Ikkaku was enough.

And even that connection had cost Ikkaku a terrible price.

Karin crawled back into her bed, unable to sleep for the longest time.

In the end, Karin didn't say a word to Ginjou about what had transpired when she was searching for the snack room. So Ginjou just assumed she had failed to find it.

Truth was, Karin just didn't dare to go back.

So when Renji's birthday rolled around, it was Ginjou who provided all the snacks and the orange juice.

"Sorry mate, but I gotta save the holy water for the end of the year, where we finally leave this hellpit."

Something shifted in Karin's mind. _'Leave this hellpit.'_ Where had she heard that phrase before?

Blue eyes flashed into her mind.

" _I was never good at remembering faces. And frankly, I couldn't care less. I'm leaving this hellpit soon anyway."_

"Ah~ so _he_ was your suitemate, eh." Karin mused. The one who had informed her that her contact lenses were keeping her from shooting accurately.

The one who made quick work of her in the final exam.

The heir of Ammo Co.

Smirking at the thought, Karin turned her mind to other things and toasted to Renji's 'health' with the orange juice.

"To Abarai Renji, my 'suitie,' now eighteen!"

The other boys chorused along the same lines, and Ganju fruitlessly attempted to punch Renji in the arm 18 times.

Karin sipped her orange juice without tasting it; she was gazing at the bag of shrimp chips before her. She had sampled every other snack, deliberately leaving the shrimp chips last, to decide whether to… heed Gin or not.

But now, she knew she wouldn't.

No.

She _couldn't._

Sighing, Karin's hand went to the Tostitos. She would have to find a new favorite snack.

But her hand swerved back to the shrimp chips once again. As Karin crunched happily away at her still-favorite chips, she promised herself, _'After I've found out what exactly Gin knows about me, that is.'_

…

A/N: Enormouth thwanks to MissJudged oneth again.

As the manga develops Ginjou's character… I'm realizing that the Ginjou in this story is getting more and more OOC…

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks again to Miss Judged!


	11. Mission 11

**The Bodyguard**

Mission 11

…

_– Karin –_

He was acting strangely. This she could tell, even when she had her own pain to deal with.

Then again, Karin had become desensitized to most things. To think that Ginjou would work for… Karin shook her head. There had to be a mistake. A terrible one. After all, there was a chance that Ginjou's employer hadn't ordered for Ikkaku's likely murder.

To prove it, Karin had to spend all 24 hours of her Sundays investigating it. Sundays that had previously had been precious times away from her principle, now being used to protect him. To prevent her employer's death. To prevent any more unnecessary deaths around her.

Because they'd merely been involved with her.

Or so she had initially thought, until she had looked at the USB.

Ikkaku had been right when he said there was something bigger to his disappearance than merely his acquaintance with her. In fact, it was much bigger than Ikkaku had thought. Another layer beneath what Ikkaku had unearthed. Hints of something else. Hints that he had died for. Hints that she would hang onto, even at the cost of her life.

It technically wasn't in her job description, (then again, she did lots of things not specified in her job description) but at the behest of her employer, Karin had to find out why her principle was acting so strangely.

There were shadows under his eyes again, like the first time he was introduced to her as her principle. But this time, it wasn't from drug or alcohol abuse. Unless he specifically went drinking on Sundays where she wasn't there to breathe down his neck.

But becoming drunk on Sundays didn't explain his perpetual dark circles for every day of the week.

He had all-night bodyguards assigned to give her some relief, but both Koganehiko and Shiroganehiko had reported that lately, their principle hadn't gone out. So though her principle went to random places like cafés, movies and diners during the day (forcing Karin to sit down with him so she wouldn't attract attention), at night, he stayed holed up in his room like a mouse hoarding its cheese.

Karin knew that he couldn't be spending his nights studying. His grades were still crawling on the ground (not even that, they were more like stuck beneath the ground nestled among the roots). With his brains, his grades would shoot up with just a little bit of effort on his part.

So, as reluctant as Karin was to give up any extra time to investigate on her own, she first needed to find out what her principle spent the lion's share of his nights on and why.

Presently, her principle's chosen venue was a bookstore. (which aligned with his strange behavior; before, a bookstore would have been the last place that he would go to). He now loitered around the adult fiction area.

Karin couldn't see what book he was reading, but it was very thick, and she frowned. Why not just buy the book and be done with it? He had plenty of money to spare, and she knew he wasn't a penny pincher. But he was so engrossed in it that it could be that the idea just didn't occur to him…

Curious despite herself, Karin subtly moved to look at the title. But he shifted just enough to hide the title from her. Karin repressed the urge to scowl in annoyance. If she could inch over to the right a bit… her principle then snapped the book shut, keeping his hand over the title (damnit) and replaced the book in a nearby shelf making it practically impossible for Karin to find out just what he had been reading.

Stretching, he turned to Karin and asked, "So where do you want to go next, Haru?"

She firmly corrected, "It's Akimoto, young master."

He waved her correction off and repeated, "Yeah yeah, got it Haru. But seriously, where do you want to go? I'll let you choose, Haru."

Honestly, Karin wanted nothing more than to go to somewhere restful where she could easily guard him. Like a corner of a park.

"And no place where I stay still in a corner protected by two walls."

So much for that idea. Was he really giving her a choice? Karin grit her teeth. "Do the Garden Mazes count?" At least two walls would be covered.

His face brightened. "Oh? You like mazes?"

Well, she did, but she wasn't about to tell her principle that, so she looked at him coldly and followed him to what she supposed would be a garden maze.

As long as he didn't intentionally lead them into dead ends.

…

_2 ½ years ago_

…

As soon as the summer heat left, a sorry excuse of fall came, along with heaps of rain. Some days were humid, while other days were just plain chilly, sending shivers through the trainees' bones as they each struggled with their ever-changing martial arts.

One drizzly day at dinner, Ginjou said dully, "I wish I had attended this Jungle back in the old days."

Chewing on a particularly tough piece of meat, Keigo asked, "Why? The corporal punishment would be worse back then, wouldn't it?"

Ginjou sighed. "Remember when you said, 'thank goodness for AC?' Well, this time I'm gonna say, 'thank goodness for heaters.' It's November and it's already bone chilling. I wouldn't be surprised if it started snowing any day. The weather is getting more and more extreme. But back in those days, the weather was more predictable. All four seasons… I forget how that feels… Oh, how I miss thee, spring, the joyful season of growth and blossoming. Oh fall, the season of harvesting – "

Shoving a hand into his face, Karin interrupted, "Yeah, yeah, we get your point, Mr. Poet."

The other boys, save for Ginjou, laughed.

The next day, Karin woke up to a steady drumming sound. Rolling off the bed, she looked out the window and groaned. It was raining yet again.

Throughout the day, the rain steadily surged down harder. But it was the day before the testing of the Chinese martial art, Mantis form; Karin had barely gotten the basic movements down; the impossibly fast snapping movements combined with the smooth swaying motions in between were too much for her. She envied the Shaolin monks, who could execute both so effortlessly – then again, they'd trained their whole lives on mountains in one discipline, and worked in conditions far worse than she did. She was just taking a crash course.

After dinner, she waved off all offers of games or delicious treats, the latter being much harder to resist.

"Don't tempt me!" she shouted at Ginjou and Renji, who were both waving macaroons and chocolate (both obtained by devious means), wafting the mouthwatering smell in her direction.

She stood right behind the doors leading out to the practice yard with freezing rain pouring down. But she needed to practice the Mantis style. Taking a deep breath, Karin stepped outside.

Her clothes, sodden and muddy, made it hard for her to move.

Finally, though her movements hadn't quite met her expectations, Karin was exhausted enough to let go of her perfectionist side. 'Screw it. My marks can just take a hit. What does it matter… I've already passed my probationary year, so it's not like I need to get first place.'

Karin climbed the eighteen flights (mud and water trailing behind her – the next person to go up the stairs would find it very slippery) back to her room. Reaching into her pocket for the key, she discovered with a curse that she didn't have it. So she rapped loudly on Renji's door, hoping he was in.

He wasn't. Sighing, Karin leaned back against the wall, ignoring how she left mud marks on it. Maybe it would be okay to take a short nap until her suitemate came back…

Returning from Keigo's room, Renji stopped when he saw a large lump of mud outside his door. He raised an eyebrow.

"What the freezing hell is…"

On closer look, he saw that it was Karin. "Man, how'd she get so muddy?" he muttered.

Though he wanted nothing more than to pick her up and carry her in, he had a façade to keep up. He nudged Karin with his foot. "Oi, Haru."

No response. Crouching next to his suitemate, Renji gently shook her. "Hey."

Still no response. Renji leaned in close to Karin's ear. "This isn't a good place to sleep, you know."

At this, Karin woke up. Momentarily confused, she looked around and then remembered that she had fallen asleep waiting for Renji to unlock the door. She staggered to her feet. "Oh, Renji. You're back." Her voice was slightly slurred. She almost stumbled and she would have fallen to the ground had Renji not caught her just in time.

Karin pushed herself out of his arms and leaned against the wall. "Oops. Sorry Renji. Didn't mean to make you all muddy."

"Why were you sleeping out here?" Renji asked her as he unlocked the door.

Karin tottered into his room behind him. "Didn't have my keys." She croaked.

His room looked like a tornado had been through it again, Karin absently noted. Out loud, she said, "Ima take another shower today."

Renji said, "Be my guest. Actually, do me a favor and please do. You need it."

Rubbing the sleep from her eyes, Karin asked, "Do you need to use the bathroom?"

Though he didn't, Renji decided to tease Karin. "Why don't you leave the bathroom unlocked? I've had to go take a shit over at Keigo's room for I've-lost-count times." He fought to keep a straight face as he wondered whether she would be flustered or not.

But even in a half-conscious state, Karin was too used to this to even stumble over her words. She wrinkled her nose. "No. Absolutely not. I don't want to smell your number two while I'm taking a shower. It's bad enough smelling the aftermath as it is."

Renji winced inwardly. Ooh… burn…

Karin firmly locked the door and climbed into the shower for the second time that day. When she got out, Renji was asleep on her bed on top of the covers, as if he had fallen asleep while waiting. That made it what, the fifth time?

In her haze-numbed mind, Karin briefly considered whether she should sleep in Renji's bed. Deciding that her bed was closer and that wading through his clothes-covered floor to reach his bed wasn't worth it, she crawled into her own bed, pulled the covers over both of them with some difficulty, and went straight to sleep.

Renji woke to extreme warmth and to the faint scent of apple. His arm was draped over warm flesh, which rather felt like a small waist. Not daring to hope, he opened an eye. Sure enough, he shared a pillow with a head of jet-black hair. He closed his eyes again, breathing in the scent of apple.

But Renji's felt something amiss. There was a tremor coming from the wrist draped over Karin's waist. Despite the heat of Renji's body, Karin was shivering. Abruptly, Renji sat up and put a hand to Karin's forehead. It was burning up. Even while unconscious, Karin felt the warmth to her back gone and let out a whimper of protest.

Renji didn't care that it was a day of a combat training test. But he couldn't even take Karin to the infirmary, lest her gender be found out. He paced back and forth wondering what to do.

Presently, Karin awoke with a groan.

"K-Haru!" Renji said.

Karin felt dizzy, and not in the regular groggy-after-sleep way. Maybe she had gone overboard with yesterday's training.

"Just go down and show that you're sick, and… take a day off or something. Tomorrow's firearms day, so it won't matter much. You're good at putting guns together."

Karin stubbornly shook her head.

Today's test she couldn't miss. Not when she'd trained so hard for it. No. Absolutely not. She said faintly, "Go away, Abarai."

Then assuming that Renji had gone back to his room to get ready as well, she absently pulled off her shirt, revealing her bare back to Renji. Tearing his eyes away from her slender and relatively pale back marred only by a farmer's tan, Renji scampered to his own room.

Swallowing, he called out, "Haru! Promise me that you won't linger around after you prove that you're sick!"

There was no answer. Covering his eyes with his hands, Renji bumped and tripped his way to the hallway that separated his room from Karin's.

"Haru?"

"…What?" came Karin's voice from right in front of Renji.

Tentatively, Renji took his hands off his eyes. Karin looked a little pale, but otherwise fine.

She jerked her head towards the door. "C'mon. It's almost time to train. Let's go."

Doubtful, Renji nonetheless followed her down.

Yet again, it was almost freezing temperature.

Renji looked nervously at Karin, and wanted to intervene when Karin and the preceptor of the Mantis discipline faced off, but lost focus when he fought the drunken fist preceptor.

Karin lost miserably in less than a minute.

"Akimoto! You did better than this yesterday!" The preceptor roared.

Karin said nothing.

"Again!"

So Karin slogged through the day and failed to pass the Mantis style all three training times. By the third time, she didn't even care. Renji hovered over her, but she slapped him away like a zombie would slap away a fly.

"Stop hovering, Abarai. I'm fine."

So they went to their last class. Gin saw Karin's state and his smile faded. All through the rest of class, Karin could tell even in her half-unconsciousness, that his smile was worried and rather forced. When Renji tried to support her back to their room, she shrugged him off. "Go ahead of me, Renji."

It was only then that Renji realized that Karin was too aware of Gin. He didn't know whether it was wariness… or something else.

When all the students had filed out to their dinner, Karin began, "…Gin… What did you mean, when you said that you'd keep my secret?"

Gin had his poker face smile again, as Karin had come to call it. "Of course I meant the snack storage." His smile widened. "What did you think I'd meant?"

Shit.

Karin turned away to leave. "I will see you tomorrow, Preceptor Gin."

But Gin caught Karin by the wrist.

He seemed like he was about to say something, but then he just smiled sadly and gently let Karin's wrist go. "Yes. I suppose so."

Karin could feel his gaze upon her as she trotted after Renji.

An uncelebrated Christmas passed (most of the preceptors didn't believe in holidays, though some trainees claimed to have seen the headmaster prancing around in full-body Santa suit) followed by several months.

One day Kensei announced, "From about the beginning of March to April, we'll have a month to practice swimming. You'll take placement tests to see how well you can swim, so I suggest you brush up on your swimming skills during the next few months."

At this, Karin wanted to turn into a spider and creep far, far away.

"You can use any style you like, though I should think that freestyle would be fastest. For those who can reach the 25-meter length within 15 seconds, you can just train by yourselves and retain those times. For those who take longer, you'll have to train with me. I'll place you into groups. The ones who get there within 20 seconds, I'll call you guys sharks… the ones gets there within 25, you guys are the dolphins. Ones who get there within 30, are salmons… and within 35, the plankton."

He ruffled a hand through his gray hair as if he were annoyed.

"Over 35 seconds and you'll spend overtime; there's even a chance that you'll get kicked out, even in third year."

Though most of the boys seemed confident that they could get at least dolphin rank, Karin was horrified. Her lowest time was 46 seconds.

"If you're only trying to save just yourself, freestyle – heck, any style – will do fine. But if you're saving someone else – in this case your principle – you will have to use sidestroke or breaststroke."

Ginjou nodded and whispered to Karin, "Yeah, you can't save somebody with freestyle or backstroke."

"So once you reach the 25-meter point, on the way back, you will have to use sidestroke or breaststroke, and I will make a 10 second allowance on the way back, since it will take you time to swim with your burden."

Karin was too worried about the speed part to that she didn't even hear what Kensei said afterwards.

"Once you all reach at least dolphin level, which is the minimum proficiency, we will act out a scenario where you will 'rescue' someone from drowning. When they 'don't wake up,' you will perform resuscitation." Amusement glinted in Kensei's eyes. "And this 'someone' will be one of your fellow trainees."

The boys groaned in protest, making faces.

"Urgh…"  
"Yech."  
"Gross…"

Pretending not to hear the cries of his students, Kensei said airily, "You might want to choose a partner you would find…" His eyes flickered to Karin and Luppi, (Luppi shifted uncomfortably) "least unpleasant to resuscitate." He turned his back to them, a hint of a smile in his voice. "Dismissed."

After class, they meandered up, the boys complaining about how they had to resuscitate another guy.

"Man, it's times like these I wonder why they don't have girls in this school." Ganju said.

Luppi shrugged. "They're just not physically equipped to keep up with the boys."

"Then why can't they ship in damsels in distress for us to save?" Keigo grumbled.

"Or have the secretaries and nurses just pretend to drown…" Shishigawara agreed.

Mizuiro objected, "There aren't 18 women in this school for us to save."

Ginjou stretched with both hands and put them behind his head. "They might actually drown, though, if we fail."

Renji glanced nervously at Karin, who, so deep in thought, wasn't listening to a thing her peers were saying.

That is, until Ginjou nudged her. "Whaddya think, Haru?

Karin looked up. "Huh?" she said, confused. "Sorry, didn't hear a word you said."

Rolling his eyes, Ginjou articulated, "What. Do you. Think. Of kissing. Other. Guys."

With an effort, Karin managed to tear her thoughts away from swimming. She mused, "Well, it's not French kissing, is it? It's just exhaling into a guy's mouth, so it's not really kissing."

The boys looked at her like she was an alien. Seeing the looks they were giving her, Karin stopped. "Wait. Don't tell me you haven't kissed anybody before."

All the boys suddenly seemed to find the floor very interesting. That is, excepting Mizuiro. "No, I have." Well, that one was obvious.

All the boys had to restrain Shishigawara from attacking Mizuiro. "Why… you piece of…!"

Karin was beginning to have doubts about how masculine these guys were. They were boys, young men, so she assumed all of them had experience. The oldest of them was 18, for heaven's sake. Was it because they went to an all-boys school that they had no love lives? Sure, she hadn't had any boyfriends before, but that was because she'd planned to become a bodyguard since she had been 11. So she had turned down every confession from any boy crazy enough to like her.

Presently, she asked them baldly, "Tell me, what do you guys consider 'first base?'" Not only was she curious, she honestly didn't know. She'd only heard her friends talk about it once, but context-wise, she knew it had to be some level of physical contact, instead of simply referring to baseball.

There were dull choruses of 'holding hands.' Only Mizuiro said, "Kissing. French.'

That set off Shishigawara again. Renji soothed him, "Cool it kid. The rest of us haven't kissed anyone yet, have we?"

Absently, Karin nodded.

The only boy she had kissed was her brother, which of course, had been a smech on the cheek. (A/N: what the hell were you people thinking?.!.!.!)

Now she wouldn't ever kiss anybody, which made her feel odd; she had thought that she wouldn't have any romantic ideas of her first kiss, but still… Yuzu had gone on and on, fantasizing about her first kiss, and apparently it had rubbed off on her, albeit unconsciously.

But she still didn't really care. Resuscitation didn't even count as a kiss anyways.

Karin didn't notice Renji's gaze, cut somewhere between skepticism and resentfulness.

Another few weeks passed, and the closer they got to the preliminary swimming placement test, the more Karin desperate was. Over dinner, Ginjou offered to oversee her swimming.

"I work as a lifeguard when I'm on break from this Jungle. Maybe I could give you some tips." he shrugged.

Though she didn't want any of her friends to see her so helpless, Karin reluctantly agreed.

So for the first time, Ginjou witnessed one of Karin's attempts to swim with her clothes on. He cocked an eyebrow. "That took…" he glanced down at the stopwatch. "43.57 seconds. Slower than your fastest of 41.18 seconds, but then again, you're tired."

Not without some effort, Karin climbed clumsily out of the pool and crouched at the edge, dripping wet.

"You'll get the hang of it, man. You're already able to do it, albeit 8 seconds slower than what Muguruma will declare the 'plankton.' But why can't you just settle for just losing the clothes and swimming like the rest of us plebeians, huh?" Ginjou slapped her playfully on the back.

Unprepared for the small but unexpected force on her back, Karin keeled right into the water. She found herself sinking. Rapidly.

She sank past the ten-foot mark. The fifteen-foot mark. Instinctively, she tried to take a huge breath, but she took in a huge gulp of water instead. 'I need to get to the surface' was her single thought, but her clothes weighed her down and she had no strength to swim back up. Even her oxygen-starved brain still had the sense to not attempt to breathe in again, but her vision started to tunnel and she knew she wouldn't make it back to the surface in time.

When Ginjou saw that it was taking his friend a little too long to resurface, he frowned. 'Akimoto was swimming before… what's taking him so long this time?'

He shouted, "Oi, Akimoto! It's almost been a minute! You've proven you have big lungs now, so come up already. Are you trying to scare me?"

When his yearmate still didn't resurface, Ginjou realized that something was terribly wrong. He shed his shoes and dove into the water. He finally knew how difficult it was to swim in water with clothes on. 'Akimoto's been doing this even with his jeans on?' But he didn't have time to be impressed. Ginjou looked around desperately for a Haru-sized silhouette. He looked down and saw a figure on the pool floor. Silently cursing, he swam down as best he could. Once he reached his friend, he grabbed an arm and started hauling his friend back to the surface. He had never appreciated his friend's lightness more. He would never have made it with someone like Renji.

He burst to the surface and struggled to the side. 'Okay, from now on, I'm taking a leaf out of Haru's book and practicing swimming with my clothes. There's no guaranteeing my principle will be as light as this.'

Throwing his burden over the edge of the pool first, Ginjou scrabbled up himself. Shaking out his hair, he asked, "You alright, Akimoto?"

But his friend didn't answer. Ginjou's eyes widened in alarm when he didn't even see the rise and fall of the chest that indicated for signs of breathing.

"Oi. Oi! Akimoto!" He shook his friend, but there was no response.

Fighting back panic, Ginjou forced his lifeguard side to take over. But his lifeguard side had never been used. 'Screw that.' He put both palms on the diaphragm and began to rapidly pump on it. Faced with the actual situation, Ginjou had no qualms about resuscitating his unconscious friend. After doing this about two times, he resumed pumping.

"Don't die on me, Akimoto! Don't you dare…"

After a moment, his friend coughed out water and rolled over.

Karin took deep, gulping breaths. She saw Ginjou's face peering closely at hers. Weakly, she slapped him away. "Go away, jerk." No sooner had she said that, she collapsed, passing out again.

Gingou sighed in relief. "Schizers, Akimoto. You almost gave me a heart attack."

He leant back on his arms. But his arms couldn't seem to support him. Confused, he looked at his hands; they were trembling.

He gave a weak laugh. "Ginjou Kuugo, what're you doing, freaking out over something like this?" Head in hands, he berated himself, "What the hell are you gonna do if a fellow bodyguard dies on the field? Eh, Kuugo…?"

Once the trembling had stopped, Ginjou threw his yearmate over his shoulder, once again marveling at how light his friend was.

Renji had been lying on his bed when he heard a sharp rapping on the door. "Jeez Akimoto, have you forgotten your keys again?"

The knocking became more insistent and Renji went over, saying, "Alright alright, I'm coming."

He didn't expect to see a sopping wet Ginjou carrying Karin over his shoulder.

Aghast, Renji took Karin and placed her on his bed, without a care about the water rapidly soaking his sheets.

Miserably, Ginjou explained, "I pushed him in…"

Renji didn't believe this. "Then why are you wet?" He then looked away. "Forget it. You'd better go and get changed before you get sick. I'll look after Haru."

Ginjou nodded and left.

Not long after Ginjou had left, Karin awoke.

Her head felt like it was going split open and her lungs felt weak. Nevertheless, she sat up.

"Ugh…"

It was Renji's room, Karin immediately knew. She feebly looked around and spotted Renji staring at her.

Raising a hand weakly in greeting, Karin said, "'Ey there. I… err… kinda failed at swimming today, so Ginjou had to rescue me."

Renji still stared her, with an angry look. Mistaking what he was angry about, Karin held up both hands in defensive apology. "Alright, it was a stupid thing to do. But I promise I will get this swimming-with-clothes-on thing down."

Still his eyes bored into hers. He abruptly stood up.

"What's your reason for coming here?"

Bewildered by the sudden non sequitur, Karin said dumbly, "Um? You mean back to the room? Uh, I suppose either you or Ginjou brought me back? So I dunno? Because I live here?"

Renji continued to stare straight at her. "Ginjou brought you back, but by 'here,' I meant The Academy. Why did you come to The Academy?"

Still nonplussed, Karin said as if it were obvious, "To become a bodyguard."

This aggravated Renji even more. "No! I didn't ask why Akimoto Haru is here. My question is why Kurosaki Karin is here!"

There was a shocked silence.

Karin tried to laugh it off.

"What are you talking about, Abarai? Are you on something? This is an all-boys school, why would she be here? And even if she was, how would I know?"

Renji hissed, "Don't even try to play it off. Your game is up. Now, why are you here?"

When Karin saw that she could no longer fake it, she questioned almost inaudibly, "When did you find out?"

Trying to keep calm, Renji said, "That's beside the point. Answer my question first. Why did you come here?"

Karin scowled. "That's no business of yours."

"Yes, it is! Now tell me why, Karin!"

Finally, Karin said, "Because my dad is oppressive."

Renji couldn't believe his ears. "Because your father is oppressive? Was that your only reason, Kurosaki?"

Upon hearing her last name, Karin snapped.

"No! It's not! It's the fact that I'm a girl: I can't inherit Armament, nor can I live a life on the field… All of it!"

Renji became more and more angry. "So why not a martial artist? A melee fighter? Or, for heaven's sake, a soccer player?"

Karin jumped to her feet, ignoring the pain and dizziness that ensued afterwards.

"Everybody expected me to become a soccer player. But you know what? Every time somebody mentioned it, the less and less I wanted to become one." Her face and voice became ironic. "Reverse psychology, you know?"

Renji's veins hummed with anger. "But why a bodyguard? And a male one at that!"

"My old man would veto any job involving physical work, except a soccer player, and he'd even be reluctant with allowing me to do that! Of course my father wouldn't let me live a life where I had the remotest chance of dying."

She saw Renji open his mouth to interject, so she plowed on, "For Christ's sake, my old man wouldn't even let me shoot a gun! I could assemble and disassemble every gun that ever existed, but he wouldn't let me near anything loaded! No bullets, no nothing. Everybody around me could use guns, but I couldn't! He wanted me to marry a nice, rich man with a nice, stable income and he even said that he'd arrange an *omiai in the future! So I effin ran away and picked the occupation with the lowest profile and became a boy, to throw him off!"

[*Omiai: a meeting between strong candidates of (arranged) marriage]

"I have no privacy! I'm sick and tired of my whole life being broadcast over magazines! Exposed for reporters to exploit and distort, just to sell me out as another 'face' of one of the corporate giants in the weapons world! Do you know how angry I was when I discovered how infatuated with 'Kurosaki Karin' you were? That's why I picked a fight with you at the beginning of the year!"

Meanwhile, Renji was still furious over what he thought were pathetic excuses to run away and make him worry for almost a whole year. He'd thought that nothing short of abuse would have chased Karin away. And he said as much.

"So that's your reason? 'Boo hoo, I can't shoot a gun because Daddy won't let me. I'm gonna get him back by crossdressing and attending an all-boys training academy.' Is that it?"

Karin's face contorted at the simultaneously accurate but nowhere-near-the-whole-truth summary of what she'd done.

She threw up her hands. "Yes, it is! Oh, right, you wouldn't know what's it's like to have an oppressive parent because you don't have any!" Karin angrily taunted, purposefully hurling hurtful words at Renji, even if she didn't mean them.

Staring at Karin, Renji said in disbelief, "You're a spoiled brat, aren't you?"

That stabbed Karin's heart. He had to know that was no longer the case; she had worked so hard to get past probationary year.

But she couldn't back down now. "Yes, I am!" Clenching her fists, Karin hissed, "So when did you find out that this spoiled brat was a girl? Huh? Do the others know? Was I the only one in the dark?" She snorted with humorless laughter. "Yeah, that's a real crack up. The person of the rumor herself, not knowing. Of course I wouldn't know!"

Renji all but yelled, "I found out just after you passed your exam, satisfied?"

Karin threw up her hands. "Oh, please, by all means, scream so everybody can hear what they probably already know."

Lowering his voice, Renji hissed, "What do you think I am? Of course I wouldn't tell!"

"Good." Karin half-turned her head to look at Renji. "Thank you." she said venomously before she stormed into her room.

Renji sank into his chair, head in hands.

"Damnit…"

The next day, when Renji woke up, he found the bathroom already used and Karin nowhere to be seen. "Good riddance." he said that, willing his heart to feel the same way. Unfortunately, his heart was nowhere near to what he had just said.

He arrived at the training grounds, taking enormous effort to not look Karin's way.

At breakfast, Karin greeted the others like usual.

She grinned widely. "Hey Ginjou. You okay? I heard that you carried me up all eighteen flights of stairs. Good job. I'm really heavy." Karin slapped Ginjou on the back.

Ginjou snorted. "Like hell you are. You're the lightest fifteen-year-old guy I've had the misfortune to meet."

"Whaaat? Misfortune, you say?" Karin attempted to put Ginjou in a headlock, but Ginjou was too big for her.

Renji asked Mizuiro, "Oi, if you've finished the last third of Cifer's homework, can I copy it?"

When Mizurio's answer was a negative, Renji exclaimed, "What? I though that you of all people would have finished the homework! Is it that hard?"

"Hey Ginjou, I haven't said this," Karin nudged him with a sly smile, "but thanks for resuscitating me yesterday. And sorry for slapping you away right afterwards. But it was just on instinct, ya know?"

Despite him resolution to ignore all things Karin-related, Renji paused in grilling poor Mizuiro for what he did know, and gave Ginjou a sharp look. Meanwhile all the other boys gagged at this.

"Ew, what? Ginjou, you kissed Haru?"  
"Eurgh…"

Face reddening, Ginjou defended, "Not kissed, resuscitated. Hey, if one of your best mates was dying in front of you, wouldn't you do the same? Haru wasn't breathing!"

Shishigawara stood firm. "I would have just pumped until my arms dropped off."

"Well, I probably would have, since Haru's pretty enough…" Mizuiro mused.

"What would you have done, Renji?"

Renji just shrugged, and resumed the talk of homework.

Ginjou asked Karin, "Hey, how did Renji react when you woke up?"

Karin too, shrugged and started eating breakfast.

Whenever Karin was asked about Renji, she just shrugged. Vice-versa.

After a while, the guys realized something.

The suitemates were completely ignoring each other.

Ginjou thought it was his fault, because he had pushed Karin into the pool. All the others were confused as to what was happening.

"They fought, no doubt about it…"

"Are they giving each other the silent treatment?"

"What is this, a cold war?"

The guys concluded that they would solve it sometime or another.

A day passed.

Renji was already beginning to regret what he had done, but his pride wouldn't allow him to go crawling back to Karin. Karin forced herself to ignore Renji with all her might.

A week passed.

Karin had shaved a few more seconds off her average swimming time. She hoisted herself out the water, where Ginjou squatted with a stopwatch. "39.56 seconds."

Still 5 seconds too long. Scowling, Karin submerged herself in the water again. "Again."

Ginjou sighed and sat back, resigned. "Alright." His thumb hovered over a button. "Start…"

Meanwhile, Renji was aching for Karin's acknowledgement of his presence, even if it was simply her anger. He finally understood that the opposite of amity was not anger; it was neglect. When he approached the dividing hallway between and even stretched out his hand, at the last second he clenched it into a fist and withdrew his hand.

An agonizing month passed, where they spoke only when necessary, and when they did, it was in a curt manner.

At this point, even Karin felt miserable.

'Face it, Karin. You miss him. A lot.' It was true. She too, during the first day, had regretted getting angry with Renji for what she knew wasn't his fault. It was hers. How had the fight escalated to that point? However, she too, had her pride. Every time she opened her mouth to apologize, she bit it back. But whenever Renji was avoided her, her heart squeezed in pain. Not as much as when Ikkaku had disappeared, but almost.

At the month and a half mark, their friends started panicking.

"Why aren't they talking to each other? It's been over a month!" Ganju angrily exclaimed.

Keigo, on the other hand, was morose, "What guy keeps a grudge this long?"

"They should just work it out with their fists, like they did last year!" Shishiwagara balled his fists and made some boxing motions; boxing was his martial art that week.

"Maybe it isn't something that can be worked out by physical means." Mizuiro suggested.

Shishigawara protested, "What? Everything between men can be worked out by a good fistfight!"

Luppi objected, "Not in the Yakuza world. And not between people who have hugely wronged each other."

At this point, Ginjou had long realized that this 'cold war' wasn't his fault. He may have triggered it, but he couldn't have driven a wedge so deep between the two suitemates. They had been thick as thieves before. They had even celebrated each other's birthdays, for heaven's sake!

But there was nothing he could do. Except…

Ginjou suppressed a grin of triumph as he hoisted a spear. It was decided that he would receive training for a long-range weapon that week.

On the third day of training with the long-range weapon, Ginjou planted himself right next to Renji. 'Right next to' being 10 meters apart, to keep the sparring from interfering with one from another. Ginjou would have to work this carefully.

As Ginjou sparred with the preceptor of the Liuhe Spear discipline, he inched slowly towards Renji. It was easier than expected as Renji was unknowingly circling closer to him as well. Luckily the preceptors were too involved in their own sparring with their pupils that they didn't notice Ginjou slowly maneuvering closer to Renji. Grinning when Renji was within the radius of his spear, he turned to go into one of the basic stances of the art of the Liuhe Spear, and his spear 'accidently' cut Renji's shoulder.

"Guh!" It was so unexpected that Renji was unable to bite back a small cry when Ginjou's spear sliced into his shoulder.

Ginjou turned around and showed his concern a little too quickly, also yelled a little too loudly, "Renji! Sorry, man, it was an accident! Oh man, look at the blood!"

Karin stiffened when she heard Ginjou yell Renji's name. After a brief moment, she apologized to her preceptor and not waiting for the preceptor's answer, dashed over to Renji.

"Wait, Akim – "

As he saw Renji's agitated suitemate run close, Ginjou privately patted himself on the back, congratulating himself. At least, before he faced his suspicious preceptor.

"'Accident,' eh, Ginjou? Then let's work for an 'accident' of our own, shall we?"

Though Ginjou was scared out of his wits, outwardly, he grinned. "Bring it on, Precep!"

Karin skid to a stop when she saw Renji, gritting his teeth and gripping his shoulder; he was turning pale from blood loss.

Out of the corner of his eye, Ginjou grimaced as he saw how deep the cut was. 'Sorry, Renji…' That had been an accident. He had meant to just lightly injure Renji; such a big injury was out of his calculations. But another part of him was also smug that his plan had worked out so well. 'This'll show Renji how much Akimoto looks out for him. And it'll make Akimoto realize how much he cares for Renji.'

So it was with a triumphant mind that he lost magnificently to the spears master.

Meanwhile, Karin had knelt beside Renji. Looking around, she snarled, "What're you waiting for! Somebody, get some bandages! And while you're at it, let the nurse know that an injured trainee is coming!"

As somebody scampered off, Karin began to tear off strips from the bottom of her shirt. Though it took some effort, she finally ripped enough strips to stem the blood flow, at least until the real bandages came.

"Look what happens when you don't watch out." Karin growled, but her voice belied by the worried look on her face, as well as her gentle hands as she wrapped the bandages around his wound.

It was as if the past month and a half hadn't happened at all. "I was cut from behind, how was I supposed to dodge?" Renji protested.

At that, Karin put more pressure on Renji's wound. "Are you going to make excuses like that when you become a bodyguard?" Renji winced.

When Karin yanked vehemently on the end of the cloth to knot the cloth around the arm, he yelped, "Yowch! Be careful, won't you?"

"Don't be such a baby." Karin admonished. "Idiot…" she muttered, looking down.

Though Karin's words were far from worried, her actions were filled with it, as she held his hand with both of hers. Renji found that endearing. Holding his shoulder, wrapped by strips of her own uniform, Renji gazed at Karin.

Karin felt Renji's eyes on her and she thought to herself, 'Don't look up, Karin. Don't look up.' But she felt her eyes almost magnetically drawn up. Her eyes met warm brown ones, and for a moment, Karin's heart stopped.

...


	12. Mission 12

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I realize I have been confused about the manner of posting to aooo. Forgive me, and go back to... was it chapter 7? Chapter 8? And read from there. It's really confusing if you don't.

**The Bodyguard**

Mission 12

…

_– The Principle –_

"Thirteen… twelve… eleven… ten… nine…" He muttered under his breath.

It was the count down for the download. But not the pirated files as usual. It was still illegal, yes, but it was for someone else.

Haru.

Ever since the time when the mysterious men had come after him, Haru had always been somewhat distracted.

And he needed find out why, so he was hacking into Haru's private computer, which he seemed to spend all 24 hours of his free Sunday, foregoing even sleep, judging from his panda eyes on Monday mornings. He had given Koganehiko and Shiroganehiko the slip and used the skills he had learnt in the hellpit to scale the walls of the apartment building, and tired himself out clinging to the wall for three hours straight as Haru tapped away on his laptop. Oh, the things he did for his bodyguard. _'It should be the other way around.'_ He thought after the third hour, annoyed, as he had given up and climbed back down.

But the point was, since Haru poured all his free time into that laptop, there had to be a hint there.

"Three… two… one…"

A blaring beeping sounded.

_Download Failed._

He cursed. Haru had definitely paid attention during slitty eyes' class. He paused. No. This was highly advanced security that even that snake of a preceptor wouldn't have taught.

He grit his teeth. Well, he'd have to break into his knowledge of high-tech hacking no matter how dusty his memories were. At least his memory concerning academics was better than his memory concerning remembering people's faces.

Flexing his fingers, he silently apologized to hackers as he prepared to abuse their skills for *cracking.

 _[*cracker: a crunchy snack-type biscuit, duh. But in **this** context, someone who breaks into computer security systems, often for malicious reasons. _ Hackers _use their skills for enjoyment to explore details of programming. The public mistakenly refers 'crackers' as 'hackers,' which offends hackers.]_

He typed furiously away on his multi-monitor-desktop's keyboard, not sure if it was possible to erase the footprints that led from his computer to Haru's laptop. But he could still try. If that didn't work, he could just anonymously donate the whole computer, monitors and all. Even though it gave him the urge to hurl to think about it, Ammo Co. was certainly rich enough to afford it.

So after about thirty minutes of grinding away at Haru's security, and another thirty minutes of downloading, the computer finally emitted a sound of approval.

Eagerly, he double clicked on the untitled folder. Several subfolders came up, among them a folder labeled Ammo Co… and next to it its most formidable rival.

_Kurosaki Armament._

He narrowed his eyes. Personally, even if he were to inherit Ammo Co, he would have borne no grudge towards Kurosaki Armament… but if it bothered Haru, it sure as hell bothered him.

He scanned the remaining subfolders: 魔一 _/_ _MI,_ 阿恋 _/AR_ , 銀空 _/GK,_ 市ギ/ _IG_ … what were these? Initials?

The last subfolder featured another, smaller, weapons company: _The Firebrand Group._

…

_2 ¼ years ago_

…

Upon meeting Renji's eyes, Karin swallowed and let go of his hand as if it had burned her. She abruptly stood up and looking away, stammered, "I-I'll… see you later."

Without looking behind, she made to return to her preceptor. But she halted and said, "Make sure you don't use your shoulder too much."

In the next class, Ginjou wore a smug grin, looking from suitemate to suitemate, expecting them to be buddy-buddy again.

Instead, there was another, different kind of tension between the two, the shorter dark-haired one stiffly cordial, and the taller redhead seeming kind of… odd. And it didn't seem to be because his shoulder was all wrapped up like a mummy either.

' _Well, it's better than nothing. They'll be back to normal in no time.'_

Sadly, Ginjou was wrong.

He watched the two awkwardly interact with each other for the next week, until he couldn't stand it any longer. One evening, when the friends had all dispersed after dinner (to work on Ulquiorra's assignment), Karin and Renji were about to go back to their room. But before they could even take a step towards the staircase, Ginjou grabbed them by their collars.

"Oh no. You guys are staying behind, with me."

He steered them both to a small lounge (if a few tables with a couple of hard wooden chairs could even be called a lounge). When he sat then down, he slapped the table. "Just _what_ is going on between you guys?"

Unflinchingly, Karin met Ginjou's vehemence.

Renji questioned Ginjou, "Um… what _is_ up with us?" When Ginjou gave him a glare that would wither even the most resilient weed, Renji hastily elaborated, "I mean, you haven't specified what's different about us from usual."

Karin, on the other hand, inwardly sighed. If she was acting strangely enough for Ginjou to notice, she had a problem. But she too, denied that anything was wrong. "I don't see any difference." She shrugged.

Outraged, Ginjou bellowed, "You can't be serious! You both _know_ there's something wrong between you guys! Now out with it!"

Both shrugged, and went off on tangents, awkwardly interacting with each other, without even looking each other properly.

In the end, Ginjou couldn't get either to admit to their strange behavior and he huffed and stormed off.

"Fine! Stay like that for your whole lives! You won't see each other after we graduate from this hellpit of a school anyway!" He yelled back at them.

The two suitemates were stricken by Ginjou's last statement.

Later, both lay on their own beds, lost in thought.

In fact, like Ginjou, Karin too, didn't know what was going on between her and Renji. But what she _did_ know was that her heart either skipped a beat when her eyes met with Renji's, or beat faster when she was nearer to him. She might have a slight inkling, but she didn't want it to be true. She wanted to know… but at the same time she was afraid of what she would discover.

A bodyguard couldn't react that way. Not to anything.

Karin covered her eyes with a forearm.

Of course, Renji knew what was wrong on _his_ part. He was already in love with Karin, but to have her notice him for the first time since she had found out that he knew… He swallowed painfully. He knew that he had no chance with her; not just because she was out of his league, but because her line of work, coupled with hiding her gender – wouldn't allow her to get with _anyone_. But as long as he was her suitemate, he could dream.

However, what Ginjou had said was jarringly true; they _would_ both go their own ways, whether it was going to college or becoming a professional bodyguard.

Over the next few weeks, as the other trainees started practicing swimming, Karin had been attracting more and more attention as she continued to swim with her clothes on. Half of them thought she crazy, doing unnecessary work.

Karin ignored them.

But whenever she came dripping out of the pool, clothes clinging to her form, guys surreptitiously glanced at her out of the corner of their eyes. They had noticed their peer's strange body proportions; slender with a small waist.

If they didn't know better, they'd think they had a tall, leggy woman in their midst…

But their classmate had a thick, flat upper body, which definitely did not belong to a woman.

One day after timing her (40.08 seconds), Ginjou remarked, "Akimoto, did I ever tell you that you're damn skinny?"

Not answering, Karin shook her short hair out like a dog. Raising an arm to block the spray, Ginjou said, "C'mon, don't even try to deny it. If you were any lighter, I'd swear that your bones're hollow."

Grabbing a towel from a nearby rack, Karin rigorously rubbed her hair dry. "Don't exaggerate, Ginjou." She was painfully aware that women, even if they were the same height, would always lose out to men in weight. Most women rejoiced at that, but given her aspiring line of work, Karin resented it.

Following her, Ginjou said, "I never noticed until now because all I saw were your forearms and biceps, but even though you look like you have pecs, your lower torso's really flat. Are you sure you have abs?"

Unconcerned, Karin snorted and was about to rub her body somewhat dry, before Ginjou unexpectedly pulled her shirt up, just enough to expose her stomach.

Karin's eyes widened. Her first instinct was to yank her shirt back down, but she held it back just in time; it might seem like she was overreacting. Any guy who pulled his shirt back down when a close friend exposed his stomach would seem like a prude, and she didn't want any more excuses for the guys to suspect her true gender.

All the same, her mind raced. Ginjou wouldn't tear off her uniform, would he? After all, he knew that she had received a warning from The Academy because she had torn up her uniform in order to wrap Renji's wound. Karin forced calm as she too looked down at her stomach. Though it was on the flat side, there was still unmistakable muscle definition. "There, satisfied?" Karin tried to keep the tremor out of her voice.

Renji, who had just come down to take a sneak peek of how much progress Karin had made, immediately saw Karin's precarious situation and came to her rescue.

Shoving himself between them, Renji said angrily, "What the hell do you think you're doing, Ginjou Kuugo?"

Confused at Renji's anger, Ginjou said, "Just looking at Akimoto's abs. They're kinda flat, but there nevertheless." Grinning, he slapped Karin's stomach and let go of her shirt. "You should work on your abs some more, kiddo. Bulk up."

Renji gave Ginjou a 'playful' punch in the arm, making Ginjou wince. Renji then pushed Ginjou far away from Karin as possible and placed an arm over his shoulder, saying loudly, "Now, what should we do?"

Recovering quickly from his shock, Ginjou said slyly, "Well, we _could_ go to the staff snack room…"

Renji pointed out flatly, "Haru's soaking wet."

"Then let him go back to change! A young man – albeit a scrawny one – can take care of himself, right?" He winked at Karin, who snorted.

Waving a hand at Ginjou, Karin said, "Yeah, I'll go wash up. Have fun raiding the staff stash." She avoided Renji's gaze.

Ginjou gave her a thumbs-up.

As they walked, Ginjou tested the waters. "Sooo… How're things between you and Akimoto?"

Looking down, Renji scuffed his shoe on the floor. "Define 'things.'"

Shrugging, Ginjou elaborated, "Well, the atmosphere in general?" He eyed Renji. "Why have you been so protective of Akimoto lately?"

Heat crept up Renji's neck. "P-protective? Who, _me?_ "

But Ginjou stared at him through half-lidded eyes in an I-know-it-and-you-know-it kind of way, and Renji said reluctantly, "Alright, I'm kinda being protective, but there's nothing to it. He's my suitemate, so I'm just watching out for his back."

Renji's eyes were glued to the ground, and Ginjou had known him long enough to sniff out a lie. He slung an arm over Renji's neck. "C'mon man. What's on your mind?"

But Renji didn't budge. He remained as mute as a clam. There were things that just couldn't be coaxed out of him, as Ginjou had found out in last year.

Sighing, Ginjou said, "Forget it. Let's just go grab the grub."

Meanwhile, Karin had finished taking her shower, and was examining her body in the bathroom. Swimming had developed muscles that she had never used before. But the setback was that her body had partly returned to lean muscle. The swimming training had all but replaced her extra combat training time, so she couldn't retain her muscles.

She frowned as she noticed something else. Despite being bound down, her chest had grown, she estimated some several inches around the bust. She grit her teeth in annoyance as she painfully clipped her corset back on.

When she came out, Renji and Ginjou were already sitting on her bed, crunching away at snacks.

Indignant, Karin said, "You're getting crumbs all over my bed!"

Ginjou shrugged nonchalantly. "You can dust it off later."

Eying them resentfully, Karin made to sit on the floor before Renji stood up. "Alright. It'll be fine if _you_ mess up your own bed, right? So you can take my place."

Ginjou snorted. "Ever the gentleman. You would think Haru's a girl or something."

Karin and Renji both stiffened. Though Renji remained stiff, Karin recovered enough to shoot back, "Well, Mister I-don't-have-any-experience wouldn't know what it's like to be a gentleman."

Ginjou took a swipe at her, but this time, Karin was too fast for his big arm. "Too slow~ I'll give you a month to get fast enough to catch up, what do you say?" She taunted Ginjou as he gave her a dirty look. "Weren't the roles reversed last year?"

She sat down in Renji's now vacated seat on her bed. It was warm. Giving Renji a half-glance, she discovered that Renji was doing the same. Fighting back a flush, she looked away and grabbed the nearest soda can. She popped it open, only to discover that it had been thoroughly shaken up.

"Ginjou, you bastard!" She shouted as Ginjou shook with laughter.

Finally, the week that they would take the swimming test came and Karin was despairing. She still couldn't get her swimming time down to 35 seconds. Most of her friends had made it to dolphin or shark, and Renji and Ginjou had both made it under 15 seconds.

Mizuiro's finger hovered over the stopwatch's start button. "Start."

Karin shot forward, but after the first spurt, her movements became waterlogged. She had become faster, no doubt, but she was still slower than all the other boys.

When Karin reached the 25-meter point, Mizuiro pushed the pause button and sighed. "About 38 seconds…" He looked at Karin, resigned. "Face it, Haru, you can't make it to plankton at this rate. It's taken you weeks to reduce your time by just one second."

Keigo squatted at the edge of the pool near her. "Just lose the clothes. I'm sure that you would make it within 15 seconds without them."

Karin shook her head, determined. Now it wasn't a matter of just keeping her gender under the wraps. It was a matter of pride. She refused to give up.

"Again." She said, with her back to the wall of the pool, her fingers gripping the edges, preparing to launch forward again.

Come the swimming test day, Karin woke up filled with dread. She was unable to look at Renji, whom she knew was nervous for her.

That day, she just picked at her food and mechanically went through the combat and academic classes.

Then the dreaded hour came.

Kensei stood at the head of the pool, stopwatch around his neck, clipboard in hand.

"Everybody in his swimming trunks? Stand in line."

As they obeyed, Kensei's eyes settled on Karin, standing near the beginning of the line. "You. Why the hell do you have all of your clothes on? Were you listening with the back of your ears when I said 'we're swimming today?'"

With all the appearance of calm, Karin answered, "I believe that there were no stipulations as to the conditions we swim in."

Kensei cocked an eyebrow. "…And how does that relate to you standing here, armed to the teeth with clothes?"

Gazing at the rugged preceptor levelly, Karin replied, "We train outside even in the worst conditions. If you aren't already in swim clothes, chances are you won't have the time to take off your clothes to rescue your principle."

Kensei crossed his arms. "So you want to swim with your clothes on?" He looked thoughtful. "Alright, we'll see, which takes longer. Swimming with your clothes on… and compare it to taking them off and then swimming."

At that, Karin gulped.

Shit.

Or as Ginjou would say, scheizers.

This was not going as she had planned. In her plan, she had imagined that the preceptor would 'marvel at her sense' and say 'good idea' and make the others swim with their clothes on. Or at least let her swim with her clothes on. Obviously, she hadn't thought about the variable of the time it took to 'take your clothes off.'

While she was panicking, Renji dove into the pool with his clothes on.

Karin stared at him in astonishment. Kensei said drily, "I see we have another one who thinks the same as one of our two resident pretty boys. Okay, since you're already in the pool, let's start with you. Ready…" Renji gripped the edges and prepared to launch forward. "Set…" He pressed his stopwatch. "Go."

Immediately, Renji started to swim with his clothes on to the 25-meter mark; once Renji had reached it, Kensei pressed the stop button.

"39.27 seconds." He jotted it down on the clipboard. "But it's not going to be accurate if you take off wet clothes to swim; taking off wet clothes takes longer."

Renji saluted and said, "I have a spare uniform."

Kensei muttered, "Trainees… more of a pain in the ass every year…" More loudly he said, "All right. Dry yourself off and put on your uniform. Let's see which takes longer."

Nimbly, Renji dried himself off, threw the towel aside and put his fresh uniform on. As soon as he had finished suiting up, he put his shoes on and stood at the edge of the pool.

Once again, Kensei pressed the start button on his stopwatch and said, "Start."

Renji started taking his clothes off, and when he was down to his boxers, he dove into the pool and started freestyling towards the 25-meter point with enviable ease.

As soon as Renji made his touchdown, Kensei said, "40.86 seconds. Hm. Swimming with your clothes on is faster, if only barely." He turned a sharp eye on Renji. "You practiced, right?"

Bobbing up and down in the water, Renji nodded. Confused, Karin thought, _'Renji was practicing without my knowing?'_

To Karin's further surprise, Ginjou also jumped in. "I agree with Renji. We should take into account pressing situations when there isn't enough time to shed our clothes."

Resigned, Kensei looked up at the other trainees. "Alright. Now that Abarai has proven that it's possible to swim faster with clothes on, given practice, all of you should be able to as well."

Hefting his clipboard, he continued, "Okay, we'll take preliminary tests, just to see how well you swim with your clothes on. There will be no starting rankings this year," his expression became even irritated once again, "as I assume that most of you haven't practiced swimming with your clothes on." He motioned for Karin to get in the pool. "Okay, you next."

Karin jumped into the pool, immediately feeling the water invade her clothes… and corset.

Unaware of this, Kensei shouted, "Start!"

Karin finished in 37.91 seconds. "Another one who practiced…" Kensei muttered as Karin climbed out of the pool to join Renji and Ginjou. She high-fived Ginjou, and briefly met Renji's eyes, though she quickly looked away.

Later that day, Karin sat on her bed, knees drawn to her chest. It was a ridiculously girly position, but it was one she had missed when she had assumed the guise of a boy. It definitely wasn't a position a normal guy would take; their bulkier builds made it uncomfortable, for one, but that was the position Karin was in now.

In that position, Karin absently twiddled her thumbs, awaiting something.

What she waited for, she didn't know.

When Karin heard the door close and Renji's familiar footsteps, she ceased her thumb twiddling. She closed her eyes.

"Haru."

After a moment, when she showed no response, Renji said, "Karin."

Karin's pounding heart betrayed her fierce efforts to remain calm.

Karin only acknowledged his presence with a vague sound from her throat, not looking up.

"Karin, look at me."

Slowly, Karin opened her eyes and raised her head, to meet Renji's intent gaze. She swallowed.

"You've been avoiding me, Karin."

At this, Karin tried to sound as nonchalant as possible. "How do you figure that?"

Renji said nothing, as if he knew the answer hung between them, unspoken. Which it was.

Karin felt the acute need to break the awkward silence. Clearing her throat, she said, "…Thanks."

This time, Renji responded.

"For what?"

"For before." She motioned as vaguely as her answer before elaborating, "For swimming, I mean. In that situa – "

Her words were cut off by a touch to her cheek. It was feather-light, but Renji's fingers had brushed her face. "Don't thank me for it. You know I would do anything for – " As if he realized what he was doing, he hastily lowered his hand, leaving his sentence unfinished.

But his eyes still lingered on Karin. "I know I don't have a chance." That made Karin freeze. "So I'll leave you alone about it. Can't we go back to normal?"

Karin sat still for a moment. Still as stone. Then she said quietly, "No. We can't."

Renji's face was expressionless, but the crack in his voice spoke volumes. "Why?"

Though Karin hid behind her charade of determination that _was_ characteristic of her… it was just that. A charade. Beneath that charade, her thoughts were in turmoil. Averting her eyes, Karin said, "Because a bodyguard isn't supposed to feel this way."

"What way?" The expressionless face turned into a confused one.

"The way I feel about you!" Karin burst out. All at once, she knew why she had been acting the way she had for the past few weeks. No, she had known all along. She just hadn't wanted to admit it.

That she had feelings for Renji.

 _Feelings_.

"It's unfair! I want to become a bodyguard! I've never felt this way about anyone else, but I fall in love _right before_ I become a bodyguard?"

Reni looked taken aback. "You… love me?"

On the other hand, Karin wanted to cry, but it seemed her tear ducts had forgotten how. So she trampled on. "It's ridiculous! I have to live as a boy – no, a _man_ – my whole life from now on, I can't fall in love!"

All of a sudden, Karin found herself in Renji's arms, crushed to his chest. At that moment, Karin felt a powerful urge to just relax in his arms, let him hold her… But she regained her senses and fought his hold. "Let… Go…!" But the more Karin struggled, the tighter Renji held her to him.

"I can't fall in love…! I don't have the luxury! I can't – "

Renji whispered, "That's only if the man you love doesn't know you're a girl."

Her struggles dying away, Karin fell silent.

Renji held Karin back to look at her, but she turned her head to avoid looking at him. Undaunted, Renji said, "Won't you give me a chance? You know I love you. I've loved you ever since you held out your hand to me." He raised her chin, to look her in her eyes, but Karin still didn't look at him.

"Don't you trust me, Karin?" His voice sounded something akin to desperation; almost pleading.

Exhaling a breath that she hadn't known she had held, Karin finally looked up at Renji. After what seemed like an eternity, she whispered, "I trust you."

Renji gathered Karin back into her arms, and this time, she didn't resist. Slowly, her arms inched around his waist as well.

Tentatively, Renji asked, "Can I…" he trailed off.

Karin took that chance to whittle away at the mood, which was a little too intense for her comfort. Though his arm kept her lower body firmly in place, Karin let go of Renji's waist and gave Renji a shrewd look. "Can you… what?"

Releasing Karin, Renji looked away, cheeks reddening as he raked a hand through his hair. "Agh, screw it… I'm no good at this. Can I kiss you?"

That broke the mood completely, and Karin burst into laughter. When she saw Renji's hurt look, Karin explained quickly, "This is my first time too, so I'll make lots of…" she held back another snort of laughter, "mistakes too." Another small laugh escaped her throat, but she was able to turn it into a cough. Recovering, she pretended to be uninterested. "But if a kiss is what you want…" She suddenly went on tiptoe and pecked Renji on the lips, and smiled deviously. "There. Or do you want a _resuscitation_?" She teased.

Renji smirked at her. "I might, later." His face softened. "But that's _after_ I've gotten over the fact that you love me."

Karin gave him a wry smile. "And after I've wrapped my head around the fact that I admitted it."

…


	13. Mission 13

Disclaimer: Bleach belongs to Kubo Tite.

…

**The Bodyguard**

Mission 13

…

_– Karin –_

No matter what he said and how much he begged her, she didn't want to give up the life of a bodyguard.

She didn't like her principal – scratch that, she absolutely despised him – but Karin loved the danger of that he brought, loved the thrill she got from fighting his enemies, got high off the thrill that she couldn't get with any other principal.

Her former preceptor, Tousen Kaname wouldn't approve of that mindset, but that was just how she worked. What made her tick.

And she was ticking like an over wound clock on steroids now, as she fought off the cronies of an irate drug dealer. Her annoyance that her principal attracted these folk like rotting meat does flies was only fleeting, when she had the opportunity to use all the fighting techniques she had learnt from The Academy. She even made sport of it, challenging herself to only use one style per incident. Though she usually failed, but hey, it was all in good fun, right?

She saw one of the men behind her pull out a knife. Thinking he would target her, she incapacitated her current opponent and prepared herself. But the armed man didn't run towards her; too late, she realized that the true target was her principale… who was doing nothing to avoid the knife. What had he gone to The Academy for? Did he want to die? That was actually a possibility, what with his self-destructive behavior, unless all his drug abuse was because of his inability to shed the illusion of his teenage immortality complex, even after he had turned 21.

Cursing, she launched and body-slammed the man before he could reach her principal. But her weight wasn't enough to move him completely aside, and his body rotated to partially face her.

Shit. Or as Ginjou would have said, Scheizers.

Maybe it was she who had the immortality complex. Her only excuse was that she was still in her teenage years, albeit the fact that she just turned 18, well into the latter half of her teens.

She bit back a cry of pain and settled for a wince as the knife sliced into the skin of her lower abdomen. Ignoring the pain, she knocked the knife out of his hand with a swift movement and smashed his head onto the ground.

Head bleeding from the contact, the man lay still.

Her principal looked on with detached interest, as if he hadn't been the one whom the man intended to kill. Swallowing tightly to hold back her pain, Karin held her stomach wound and answered his unasked question. "He'll have a concussion. A hit to the head won't kill him."

The other thugs had split the scene, leaving a fair number of their unconscious comrades scattered here and there. Karin sighed. She'd have to call in The Force to pick them up before they woke up and ran away.

Hearing her sigh, Karin's principal sent a look her way. "What, are you injured?"

If Karin didn't know better, she could have sworn she'd heard a hint of concern in his voice.

Hastily hiding the wound with her suit jacket, Karin stiffly shook her head. When her principal turned his back to her, she lifted her jacket up and gingerly peeked between her fingers to look at the wound. It was lucky that it hadn't cut into her muscle. But one thing was for sure.

That would leave a scar.

She sighed. The redhead would just have one more excuse to try and get her to leave the industry.

…

_2 years ago_

…

When they saw that their friends had 'reconciled,' the rest of the guys were ecstatic.

Ginjou assumed that it was because Renji had dove in first to back his friend up and proven to Preceptor Muguruma that it was possible to swim faster to with clothes than shedding them and then swimming.

He didn't notice that Renji was sneaking looks at his suitemate when others weren't looking.

If it had taken Karin a fair amount of effort to act like a boy with an added difficulty to disguise herself as one, then pretending that nothing was going on with Renji took a behemoth of an effort… with an additional 1000-ton weight.

Currently, she was chewing on a highly unsatisfying vegan sandwich, trying with all her might to ignore Renji, who was trying with equal effort to catch her eye.

Back at Renji's room, Karin confronted him. "What the hell are you doing, Abarai Renji?"

"What the hell what?" Renji asked innocently.

"Stop playing stupid! You know perfectly well what!"

Renji stubbornly said, "Well, I don't know, so you're just going to have to spell it out for me."

Crossing her arms, Karin demanded, "Stop making eyes at me when the other guys are there!"

But Renji just took her by the elbow and pulled her close. "What, you don't find it flattering? A man is trying to ploy for your attention." Karin snorted, and Renji grinned. "Well, you should. It's an honor that a handsome specimen like me loves you."

Raising an eyebrow, Karin returned, "Oh? If you put it that way, you should be honored that you're sharing a suite with the one and only Kurosaki Karin."

Renji face slowly drew closer to hers. "I am."

As his face drew ever nearer, Karin whispered, "Then we're both honored to be with each other." Her forehead touched his, and she looked into his chocolate colored eyes. "So it cancels out."

Their lips were just about to touch when there was a knock on the door.

Renji sighed. As Karin sent him a teasing smirk and retreated to her room, Renji turned and opened the door.

All their friends were there, panting from the effort of climbing up the stairs.

"Haru! Renji!" Keigo practically shouted.

Curious, Karin also came to the doorway. "What's wrong? Is it the apocalypse or something? The Armageddon? The Rapture?" she joked.

Luppi said gravely, "Worse."

Keigo slumped to the ground. "We've been assigned."

Karin waited for the end of his statement. When it didn't come, she prompted, "Assigned to what, exactly?"

"Partners."

"For the swimming test."

Leaning against the doorway, Karin said in a slightly amused voice, "From the looks on your faces, I take it that the assignments aren't good."

Renji stated, "I thought we would be able to choose our own partners. Muguruma said so."

Ginjou said sullenly, "Not anymore. The headmaster intervened. Word is, he 'drew names from a hat.'"

Karin snorted. "Probably his own hat." she muttered.

"That's not the worst of it." Ginjou continued.

Trying to make light of the situation, Karin randomly threw out, "What, do we have to resuscitate a preceptor?"

They cringed, some faces becoming even more ashen, if possible. It dawned on Karin and she fought back a laugh. "Oh. I'm right, aren't I." The boys miserably nodded. Heaving a mocking sigh, Karin said, "I suppose that you've all looked at our partners then, and have come to tell us who we got."

Again, the boys all nodded in tandem.

Suddenly a thought occurred to Karin, and she made a face. "Anybody. Anybody but Tsukabishi."

Keigo's face crumpled, and for the first time in this particular situation, Karin felt sorry for him. Tsukabishi was no Barbie doll; he was roughly the size of a killer whale.

Ginjou pointed to himself. "Mine's almost as bad, you know the big pig?"

Again, Karin winced in sympathy. 'Big pig' really was an apt description for Omaeda. It would be perfect if it included 'arrogant.'

Renji looked increasingly nervous. "…Just how did they choose the preceptors?"

Mizuiro shrugged. "Despite the rumors that he'd 'drawn them from a hat,' I asked a secretary-nee-san and she said that the headmaster had them compile a complete list of preceptors and 3rd years and just closed his eyes and just stabbed his finger at random names."

Renji's face was gradually transforming from nervous to terrified. "I'm not sure if I want to know who I'm partnered with now."

Luppi reassured him, albeit unconvincingly, "It's better to be prepared."

Personally, Karin didn't think so. "Well, I don't want to know. No point dreading it until the test day."

Renji glared at her, which Karin ignored. He asked loudly, "Who's mine?"

Ginjou smothered a snigger. "The headmaster."

Renji froze. Sure that he had misheard, he assumed a blank face expression. Leaning his ear in closely, he asked lightly, "Pardon? I could have sworn that you named our esteemed headmaster." Silence met his question.

Straightening, Renji asked in disbelief, "Why the freezing hell would he put his own damn name on the list? Is he a gay pervert?"

Mizuiro corrected him, "'Gay' means happy. The politically correct term is 'homosexual' and there's nothing wrong with that. In fact, we live in an all-boys school, so I'm surprised that they haven't banned s– "

All the boys attacked him before he could finish his sentence.

When Karin saw all the blood drain from Renji's face, she again had to fight the urge to laugh.

Later, when Karin sat down with a considerably worse-for-wear Mizuiro and discussed their homework (with the other guys secretly listening in), Renji steered Ginjou aside.

He asked in a low voice, "Who did Haru get?"

Ginjou raised an eyebrow. "You're doing it again."

Annoyed that Ginjou hadn't answered his question, Renji snarled, "Doing what?"

"Being protective of Akimoto."

Reddening, Renji denied this. "N-no I'm not! I'm just asking."

Ginjou crossed his arms and retorted, "Yeah right. Well, if you're 'just asking' then I don't have to tell you." He turned away from a furious Renji.

One by one, their friends trickled out of the room until Renji and Karin were alone once again. Karin sat at her desk, working on the problem that she had discussed with Mizuiro earlier.

Renji sat down on Karin's bed, brooding, until Karin absently asked, "What's wrong?"

After a moment, Renji said, "I asked Ginjou which preceptor you were paired up with."

Karin didn't even look up from her homework. "I thought I said that I didn't want to know."

Sullenly, Renji replied, "Well, even if you wanted to know, I couldn't tell you because Ginjou didn't tell me even when I asked."

At his tone, Karin set her pencil down and looked up, giving Renji a sharp look. "Don't get all jealous. It's only resuscitation. Even Ginjou gave me that."

Renji jumped to his feet. "'Don't get all jealous?' How can you say that? You don't feel jealous at the thought of me 'resuscitating' another person?"

Karin gave him an odd look and said shortly, "No." When she saw Renji's face, she explained, "You're resuscitating another guy. You seem very hetero to me, so I don't have to worry." She cocked her head and teased, "Unless you're secretly bisexual?"

Too incensed about Karin's blasé attitude of resuscitating a random guy, Renji didn't spare a thought for her teasing. He burst out, "But you're a girl!"

Sighing, Karin stood up from the chair and went to where Renji stood. Gently, she put both hands to his cheeks.

"Renji. Look at me."

Contrarily, he looked away.

However, Karin firmly kept her hands on both his cheeks. "Do you mind that much?"

When Renji didn't answer, she pulled both hands back, releasing his face… only to slap them right back onto his cheeks with a loud clapping sound.

Renji started, staring at Karin indignantly. "What the hell was that – " He was interrupted when Karin slapped both his cheeks again.

"Karin – !" Renji stopped when he saw Karin's wrathful face. But there was also a tinge of sadness.

"You don't trust me." Karin stated. "You expect me to trust you, but you won't do the same for me." She clapped her hands to his cheeks yet again, causing Renji to stare at her, flabbergasted. "Do you think that I would just fall for another guy just after I blow oxygen, number 8 on the periodic table with the letter 'O,' into his mouth? Really?"

Renji opened his to reply, but before the words could make it out of his mouth, Karin made him to swallow them by kissing him. When he felt her tongue caress his, he closed his eyes and kissed her back.

Their lips parted, and Karin gazed into Renji's eyes. Still keeping her hands on Renji's cheeks, Karin whispered to him, "There. How was that? No resuscitation could ever feel like that, Mister Abarai."

Finally letting his cheeks go, Karin added, "That was my first real kiss, by the way." She slunk back to her desk, leaving Renji sitting there, shell-shocked, with cheeks red from being hit three too many times.

He only came back to his senses when Karin said in a peeved voice, "Will you go back to your room already? Or do you want more where that came from?"

Though Renji could have willfully misconstrued that question to mean the kiss, the warning tone of her voice suggested she meant the slaps. The idea ultimately drove him back to his own room.

Sinking down at his desk, Renji stared blankly down at his half-done homework and stayed that way for a long time before he realized that he had to finish his homework. As he scribbled away, his mind half lingered on the kiss, with the other half occupied with the thought that he needed to study hard if he wanted to get money to live on his own once he graduated.

The next few days, between juggling their own physical training and comparing answers for their homework, were monotonous; at least for the other guys.

But Karin and Renji – too shy to replicate the kiss that Karin had given to Renji in her bout of anger – instead talked about their lives before The Academy. At first they skirted around the delicate questions, afraid they would accidentally hit each other's sore spots.

Soon Karin learned that Renji had indeed, won a scholarship to attend an expensive private school for his 'excellent physical prowess,' as he pompously put it.

Karin snorted. "Yeah, but not for intelligence, I see."

Renji gave her an offended look. "For your information, I have plenty of knowledge under my belt. I'm going to graduate from The Academy, aren't I?"

"So will Keigo." Karin pointed out. Keigo wasn't exactly the brightest daisy in the field.

Renji looked annoyed at being compared to Keigo. "But we're still smarter than most people. We found this place and survived probationary period. That is a feat in itself."

Karin acknowledged this. It had been quite the challenge to do the combinatorics and find the coordinates. She had a sneaking suspicion that some tutors had played a large part in some of trainees' entrances. "Alright. So you learned how to hack from this private school then?"

Renji shrugged. "Not directly. But they taught me enough for me to piece it together from what I observed from a geeky upperclassman." Eyeing Karin, Renji asked shrewdly, "From what I've seen, it wasn't your first time hacking either. Where did you learn it? You didn't learn that from school."

Karin fought back a cringe.

"After the first year of middle school, when everyone and their mother knew that I was the daughter of… well, you know, Yuzu and I were pulled out of public school and given private tutors. But you're right. My tutors didn't teach me that." Her face turned blank. "Ikkaku taught me."

Sensing that he had brought up unpleasant memories, Renji stayed silent.

Seeing Renji's face and wanting to assure him she was alright, Karin reached over and took out the purikura she had taken with Ikkaku. Rolling over so she lay on her stomach, Karin indicated the picture. "That was me three years ago." she jabbed a finger at her face on the purikura, giving Renji a mock stern look, which almost hid her amusement. "Which I think you should know already, seeing how you were my creepy stalker."

Renji gave her a dirty look. "Excuse me. Well, now you're in the same room as this 'creepy stalker,' so should I act like one?" He pretended to leer at her, before she smacked him on the head with the purikura.

"Shut up and listen." she admonished, as she knew that Renji would never force her. Though his outer appearance and demeanor suggested aggressiveness, he was very shy, at least when it came to his emotions.

Placing the picture in front of them once more, Karin pointed, this time, at Ikkaku's face. "See this bald guy here? That's Ikkaku. Madarame Ikkaku." She looked down at the picture thoughtfully. "You know, he attended this place when he was 15." She made a face. "Yech. That was so long ago. I was what, 1-year old then?"

Renji was surprised. "Then he's an alumni?"

Karin shook her head. "No. He figured the academics were too troublesome so he left after first year, even though he'd passed the probationary exam. After he dropped out, he put his hacking skills to use." She added, "Illegally, of course." No matter how hard she tried, she couldn't hide the sadness in her expression. "He made me this identity, inserting 'Haru's' existence into the government records." Exhaling deeply, she gazed down at the purikura. "He created this identity to…" she trailed off.

"…To hide you from your father." Renji stated. At Karin's lack of answer, it suddenly dawned upon Renji. "Your father. Kurosaki Isshin. He was the one who – "

Karin stiffened.

Immediately, Renji regretted saying what he did. He hugged Karin around her shoulders and murmured into her hair, "I'm sorry. I shouldn't've…"

Almost imperceptibly, Karin relaxed. "No. Don't apologize… It's almost been a year. I have to accept… that Ikkaku's probably…" she swallowed hard. "…Gone." She still couldn't say 'dead.'

But she couldn't accept that her father had done that to Ikkaku.

Karin pulled away from Renji's arms to put the purikura back. Flopping back down on the bed, Karin covered her eyes with a forearm. Whether it was to hide tears or not, Renji couldn't tell. "How is it that you can get me to tell you all these things? Manage to always show you my weak side?"

The corners of Renji's lips tugged slightly upward as he lay down beside her. "Maybe because I'm your suitie? Sweetie?" Karin laughed a little at that. Renji took her hand and interlaced his fingers with hers. "You don't have to tell me anything, but I'll always be here if you need me."

Ever so slightly, Karin nodded and turned her head into the crook of his neck.

Though the next day dawned bright and clear, the mood among the trainees was black.

It was the day of the final swimming test, where they would have to rescue and resuscitate a preceptor.

While Renji looked grim, the other boys were practically groaning in despair.

"I have to drag Tsukabishi back. Tsukabishi Tessai! That huge," here Keigo stretched his arms as wide out as he could to demonstrate, "sheer mammoth of a man! It's already hard enough to swim with clothes on and support myself, but to swim with that giant?"

Callously, Ganju pointed out, "That's why we practiced swimming with weights."

"Yeah, and they probably take into account the ratio of size of the preceptor and the trainee." Ginjou reassured Keigo.

Luppi eyed him resentfully. "I notice that you're rather relaxed, probably because you're large yourself."

Ginjou shrugged. "Hey, it's in my genes. I can't help it."

They shut up when the preceptors came in one by one.

Karin saw a head of silver hair bobbing in, and it wasn't Preceptor Muguruma. Her breath caught when she realized that it was Preceptor Gin. 'He's here too?'

Pulling her mind away from the silver-haired preceptor, she returned to waiting for the preceptor that she had been assigned to. 'Maybe I should have asked who he was.' As it was, she was forced to wait for the preceptor to come and find her. Gin stopped in front of her. Straightening, Karin saluted him. Per usual, Gin waved the salute away. Lowering her hand, Karin asked as blandly as possible, "Preceptor Ichimaru, I suppose that you're here to find your trainee. I'm afraid I don't know where, or who, he is."

Gin raised his eyebrows. "First of all, it's Gin to ya. And second, you're my partner."

Karin froze. "What? I'm your partner?" She forgot to be polite.

Assuming her question to be rhetorical, Gin glanced around and remarked, "I see your efforts succeeded, Haru-chan. Everybody's wearing clothes."

Though she twitched at the 'chan,' she said nothing in return. He was trying to provoke her into talking to him again. 'I have to get Gin out of my mind.' She winced. She had thought of Preceptor Ichimaru by his given name again. Shaking her head, Karin wondered if this was what Renji had been nervous of.

But she hadn't liked the silver-haired preceptor. She had just been… aware of the him.

Karin watched stiffly as the testing started with none of the amusement she thought that she would have felt, all of that chased away with Gin's presence at her side. However, when Renji's turn came around, her impassiveness turned into something akin of anticipation. She looked on as the headmaster 'floundered' in the water as Renji sliced through the water to him, and hauled him away from his hat. She held back a laugh as Renji resuscitated the pale-blonde headmaster, who squirted out the water back into Renji's face and demanded that he go out and retrieve his hat. When Renji looked at her with a world-weary face, she grinned and gave a small, but playful wave.

fRenji froze when he saw Gin standing next to Karin. He narrowed his eyes, but before he could silently communicate his anger with his eyes, Karin had turned away to watch Keigo swim towards Tsukabishi Tessai, something she knew would amuse her.

All too soon, it was Karin's turn and the little good humor she'd had, vanished.

She watched with trepidation as Gin dove into the water and swam out to the 25-marker. As Karin loosened her muscles, she thought she saw a flash of blue between silver bangs. Then again, all the water in the pool was blue.

Kensei's voice cut into her thoughts. "Ready."

Karin readied herself.

"Go."

Karin cleanly dove into the water, briefly catching a glimpse of Gin, who had abruptly stopped all movement. All the other preceptors had immediately started splashing wildly; yet Gin sank like a stone by stopping all movement. She felt a twinge of annoyance and thought he was doing it on purpose. Once Karin reached the 25-meter point, she submerged completely. As expected, she had no trouble finding Gin. Upon reaching Gin, she grabbed his wrist. Though he was thin, his weight was still too much for Karin to handle, even with the water's buoyancy to help her.

'Well, if I can't bring him up to the surface, I'll just have to drag him. I'll have to resuscitate him anyway. It won't matter.' She thought callously, not noticing Gin's mouth curling into a sly grin.

After about 20 meters of swimming diagonally up, Karin finally brought Gin to the surface. She burst out of the water as well, breathing in sweet, sweet oxygen. Only just managing to keep Gin's head over the surface of the water, she scissor-kicked all the way over to the edge of the pool. Once she reached the edge, she practically threw Gin over to the hard-tiles.

A thought flashed though Karin's mind. 'That's it. I'm going to guard somebody smaller than me. A kid or a midget, or something.'

But the thought disappeared as quickly as it came, because presently, Karin was on the verge of panic. She had an unconscious preceptor lying before her, and as far as she could tell, he wasn't breathing. Had she gone overboard? What if she had killed him?

Forcing herself to be calm, Karin thought grimly, 'Time for resuscitation.'

Pressing her hands against Gin's diaphragm, Karin started pumping, hesitating only briefly before she pinched Gin's nose and placed her mouth upon his.

At first, she merely blew air into Gin's mouth and all was fine.

But when she drew in a deep breath and put her mouth to his for the second time, she felt something like electricity shoot through her.

Ever so slightly, Gin's tongue had made contact with hers. Karin immediately jumped back, looking at Gin with alarm. But he still wasn't breathing.

Squeezing her eyes tightly shut, Karin placed her mouth on his again.

Their tongues contacted again. 'Stay calm, Kurosaki Karin. You're only blowing oxygen into his mouth.' But her tongue hadn't even been remotely close to the inside of Gin's mouth, had it?

But his tongue brushed against hers again, still feather-light, but enough to make Karin acutely aware of it.

She fought to ignore it and blew air into his lungs again, reminding herself it was just like inflating a balloon; except balloons didn't tease her tongue. During the third cycle of resuscitation, Karin began to doubt herself. Was it his tongue touching hers, or her tongue that was touching his? Was her body unconsciously taking advantage of Gin's proximity?

Karin angled her head and placed her mouth on his again, her mind racing a mile a minute. The feeling was very different, yet simultaneously the same as when she was kissing Renji. Karin fought to still the butterflies in her stomach. She fought off all thoughts that she was actually kissing Gin. She fought off a shiver… of pleasure.

When she'd had just one tongue-touch too many, Karin freed her mouth from Gin's and made to pump again.

Just as she was about to place her hands on his diaphragm, Gin's eyes opened, revealing pale blue irises that she knew all too well. He sat up… cheerfully, as if he were a person who hadn't just been resuscitated at all.

Which was strange.

Kensei's voice sounded, "Time. 38.59 seconds going, 45.36 returning, and 2.18 minutes reviving, Akimoto."

Karin stood up, her legs trembling.

Just in time, Gin gripped her shoulder, keeping her from sliding back down to the ground with exhaustion. She'd been running on adrenaline all this time, Karin realized.

Though it looked like Gin was using her as a support, but it was a fact that he was supporting her.

This incensed Karin. Why was the man she had just rescued, supporting her? Had he just been acting all along? But that couldn't be; he definitely hadn't been breathing when she had first resuscitated him. And when all the other preceptors had pretended and gotten up after about 2 cycles, Gin had only just revived after 6.

After Gin had steadied her sufficiently, Karin removed his hand from her shoulder as politely as possible. Which may or may not have included shrugging it off, pushing it off, and when none of those worked, finally prying it off, all with an unchanging face expression as Kensei informed her, "You're currently in second place."

She successfully pushed Gin from her mind. "Who's in first?"

"Abarai." Kensei paused. "Even with that damn clown- I mean, the headmaster as his partner," He pulled a face at the thought, "he came in first." He eyed Karin. "To put it bluntly, he came in first by a mile."

Karin blinked. "What was his time?"

Without even looking down at the clipboard with all the records on it, Kensei answered, "36.4 seconds going, 40.2 coming, and 0.85 reviving." With that, he turned to the next pair, shouting, "Ready, start!"

She had no choice but to turn her attention to Gin. Dripping, he took two towels and handed Karin one, rubbing his own silver hair dry with the other, her expression thoughtful.

Gin's eyes had reverted to slits and his smile was playful. "What, ya disappointed ya didn't make first?"

Karin reddened and was suddenly very focused on drying her hair. She was disappointed that she hadn't gotten first after all that practice.

The fact that men's bodies were naturally better equipped for battle irked her immensely. But she didn't begrudge Renji for his first place. She had noticed him working harder this year, and she knew it was because he wanted – needed – the scholarship. At least she had a buffer of the stash of money that she had moved from her own account back when she had still been a Kurosaki.

As she dried her hair with the towel, Gin broke into her thoughts again. "Well, thanks for savin' me again, Haru-chan."

Forgetting her resolve not to react to him, Karin scowled at Gin. She reconsidered her thought that he had been pulling a stunt. But if that was the case, she didn't want to even think about the implications; whether he had been the one elevating the resuscitation to extra long and repetitive kisses… and why.

Gin's smile widened, as if he was reading her thoughts. Leaning down, Gin's Kyoto accent disappeared again as he whispered in her ear, "Well, I might have acted a bit, but you really did take me out of the water just in time."

Karin heard a throat clear behind them. Over her shoulder, she saw a certain redhead standing there. The look on his face made Karin's insides curdle. She definitely didn't want to face Renji's wrath later when they were alone.

He stalked over and fastened a hand around Karin's wrist, saying roughly, "Let's go, Haru."

Not caring about what punishment he might receive, Renji glared venomously at the preceptor as he dragged Karin away.

Thankfully, Gin watched them go merely with an air of amusement. He waved, saying, "Bye bye, Haru-chan~ See ya in 10 minutes."

While Renji was dragging her away, Karin hissed, "What are you doing? You're lucky Gin didn't – "

"Gin?" Keeping his hand clamped tightly around her wrist, Renji said incredulously, "Haru-chan? So that's what you guys call each other now?"

Bewildered, Karin said, "Look, I don't like what he calls me either! And what're you getting angry for? Is it just because I left out the 'preceptor' from his name? We do that for all the preceptors among ourselves!"

Renji turned around. Eyes flaring, he said furiously, "But you called him 'Gin!' Not 'Ichimaru' but 'Gin!'"

Shaking her hand free from his vice-like grip, Karin snarled, "I thought we'd been over this already, Abarai. I don't feel that way for anybody." 'Nobody but you.' She tried to communicate with her eyes.

'Ah, but willingly or not, you were physically unfaithful to Renji, though.' said a nasty little voice in her head, which Karin roughly pushed aside.

"I've seen how you look at him!" Renji shouted, causing the other trainees who had finished the swimming exam to look at him.

This made Karin angry, not only with Renji but also with herself. She resented her vulnerability, allowing Gin – who may or may not have been unconscious – to take the resuscitation further, into a kiss. Though boiling inside, Karin forced a disdainful look on her face. "I am not having this conversation with you." With that, she walked ahead to class.

In the lab class, she didn't talk to, much less meet the eyes of either man, even when Gin meandered around her and Renji glared daggers at the back of her head.

She just clattered away at her school-provided laptop, hacking mercilessly into Ginjou's system, while setting up a firewall comparable to Fort Knox around hers. So Renji's attempts to get her attention by hacking into her computer were fruitless, as his attacks bounced off harmlessly like rubber balls against a steel wall.

Only Ikkaku could break through her security system, Karin thought vehemently; but as soon as that thought ran through her mind, the anger was replaced by sadness.

At dinner, Karin didn't so much as look at Renji as she asked Ginjou, "Hey, what was your time for the swimming test?"

Heaving a sigh, Ginjou moodily stabbed at whole-grain noodles of his spaghetti. "Abarai beat me by a 60th of a second. A 60th."

No matter how hard Karin tried, she couldn't hide her dismay. If Ginjou had been faster than her, then there was no guaranteeing that other guys hadn't beaten her as well.

Seeing her face, Ginjou clapped her back. "Don't worry, Akimoto. You'll fill up. The others were your size back last year. Smaller, even." He looked her over and amended, "Well, not quite as scrawny, but smaller proportions nonetheless."

Renji was annoyed by that expression. She was slender, not scrawny, he thought.

The expression 'scrawny' also didn't make Karin feel any better, because she knew that she couldn't bulk up, no matter how much she wanted to. Female bodies just weren't made that way; they didn't excrete testosterone like men did. She was also pretty sure that her growth spurt was slowing down. In fact, it was no longer a 'spurt' but 'crawl.' And the snail-like growth would exponentially decay, and eventually halt at 21, if she was lucky.

She could get an x-ray to find out about her growth plates and how long they would last, but she didn't want to risk exposing her true gender; no matter if patient information were confidential, she couldn't trust anybody. Not as long as her father was still at large.

"More milk." Karin said out loud. She would have to reduce her muscle training if she wanted to grow even one centimeter more. And increase her calcium intake, and the easiest available source of calcium was milk.

After chugging down a whole carton of milk, Karin slammed the carton down and wiped her mouth with a sleeve. Standing up, she said peevishly, "I'm going up to my room first." As she stalked away, Karin faintly heard Ginjou ask Renji, "Was it something I said?"

Karin sat at her desk, seething, not even hearing Renji come in. "That bastard… How can he suspect my feelings? How could he!"

She almost jumped out her skin when she felt arms wrap around shoulders. Though her first instinct was to shove Renji away, she refrained.

"It wasn't your fault that you were stuck with Ichimaru. I… shouldn't have blown up like that. I just… I've seen how he looks at you…"

Tightening her lips, Karin said, "Shove off, Renji. Can't you see I'm doing my homework?"

With a sigh, Renji released her. Karin suddenly felt empty with the absence of his arms.

Finally having finished her homework, Karin lay on her bed, tired but not sleepy at all. She wanted to pummel her pillow, but the pillow had done nothing wrong.

Neither had Renji.

His jealousy only reflected how much he loved her.

When sleep didn't claim her even after it had turned 2 a.m., Karin rolled off the bed. Pillow under arm, she padded over to Renji's room. Though messy, it was filled of scent of pine… Renji's scent.

Wading through the pile of Renji's clothes, hugging her pillow, Karin looked down at Renji's face. She didn't quite have the nerve to lie down beside him – not when she knew that he was aware of her real gender. Just as she was about to turn away, a strong arm encircled her waist and she tumbled onto the bed.

Karin squeaked when she felt Renji's warm body envelop hers.

A husky voice whispered to her, "Are you talking to me now?"

Indignantly, Karin protested, "I wasn't not talking to you! And I thought you were asleep! Do you know what time it is?" She admonished.

Renji drew her even closer. "But you're awake."

At this retort, Karin had no reply. But with his arm around her, Karin felt at home at last, and her eyes fluttered shut.

After what seemed like only a few minutes, Karin found herself shaken awake by Renji.

"Oi! Karin! It's time to train."

Blearily opening her eyes, Karin squinted at the bright light that spilled in from the window and immediately pulled the covers up over her eyes. "Mnf… Go 'head and get ready… I'll jus' sleep a bit longer…"

Renji looked down at the (rather large) bundle of blanket, reluctant to attack it. But he had no choice. He yanked the covers off from Karin's form, causing her to yowl.

He said sternly, "Before you say anything, I already am ready." This wasn't said with as much conviction as it could have had, as his eyes roamed over her lithe body, mostly exposed by the sleeveless shirt and boxers.

Unaware of his eyes upon her, Karin lunged to take the blankets back. "Get your paws off – "

Renji tauntingly held the blanket just out of Karin's reach. "Off of what? My blanket?"

Now fully awake, Karin scowled at Renji.

Renji, in turn, saw her eyes and frowned. "Your eyes. Did you sleep with your contacts on? Don't you know how harmful that is for your eyesight?"

Crossly, Karin swung her legs off of Renji's bed and stomped past Renji towards the bathroom, slamming the door shut on Renji's scolding.

But from then on, they always went to sleep together that way, with Renji's arm loosely draped over Karin's waist, even if Karin sometimes rolled over, almost pushing Renji off the bed, if not hitting (or kicking) him in her sleep.

The graduating exams approached, and the 3rd years trained furiously and studied more fervently.

And on the day right before the final exams, Muguruma Kensei informed the 3rd years of what their test would consist of.

"Tomorrow, your combat skills will be used against those pathetic probationers. You may recall that you were assigned to protect a preceptor from a 3rd year. Now it's your turn to 'assassinate.' That'll be your final test. To each 'kill' the preceptor that you are assigned to." He shrugged. "Combined with that swimming test from before, that's all you have to do for this test. Defeat a pair of 1st years that are still wet behind the ears. Easy. They're just small fry." He abruptly stopped speaking, looking each and every one of them in the eyes. He spoke quietly, "…Is what you may think." His voice returned to its regular volume. "And you may be right." But his gaze was sharp. "But there are some exceptions. Depending on who you are…" Karin thought his eyes flickered over to where she, Renji, and Ginjou sat, "…if you're unlucky, you'll find yourself against a skilled tag team."

Karin and Renji traded looks.

"In order to find and 'assassinate' your assigned target, you will have to use a combination of everything you learned this year. Just like your probationary year, if you can manage to remember back that far." Kensei said sarcastically.

Karin held back a snort. She had taken the test last year; there was no way she could forget. Especially since she had lost to that heir of Ammo Co. She wanted to face him again, to see if her skills had matured enough in the past year to take him on, but he was long gone, probably being trained to inherit the weapons company.

She knew that they would utilize Gin's attacking tactics and Kensei's weapons skills, but Karin didn't have any clue as to what their hacking skills would be used for.

It was only when Kensei clapped that Karin snapped back to attention.

"Alright. I'll give you brats an early dismissal today. Give you time to rest up for that test tomorrow, bright and early at 5 a.m." He turned around and headed to the exit. "I probably won't see you again, and I can't say that I'll miss you, 'cause that'd be lying. So long kiddos."

With those oh-so-pleasant parting words, Kensei walked out the door.

All throughout the day, Karin pondered on what the hacking would be used for. She brought it up in discussion, but the guys shrugged.

Luppi shrugged. "No idea."

"I don't even want to know." Shishigawara said, and tucked into their last supper before the test.

"I just wanna pass and graduate." Keigo groaned, chin on the table.

Mizuiro said, "Maybe the hacking's used to locate the preceptors."

Ginjou looked at him skeptically. "You know this?"

Shrugging, Mizuiro returned to his tray filled with disgustingly healthy foods. "Just an educated guess."

"That's bull." Renji said.

Karin chimed in, "Yeah, how would you track your target if he's moving? You can't well take your computer around with you."

Ginjou raised a finger. "Ah, but they'll give us laptops, won't they?"

"Laptops are still too heavy." Renji argued.

Unable to figure out how hacking factored into the test, they lapsed into silence.

"Maybe we don't use hacking at all?" Ganju hedged.

Renji's and Ginjou's heads turned to give Ganju deadpan looks. "Muguruma said that we'd use all of what we'd learned this year, except for swimming." Renji said flatly.

"We'll just have to take it as it comes, won't we?" Ginjou said, resigned.

Karin sighed.

All the other kids just shrugged and moved on, straying back to their rooms, but Karin, Renji, and Ginjou stayed at the table, their minds still lingering on the topic. Suddenly, Karin was struck by an idea.

She could hack into the headmaster's computer. Yes, Karin thought vindictively; she still hadn't forgotten how much trouble he had given her the previous year.

"What's with the scary face?" Ginjou's head poked into Karin's line of vision, startling Karin. She frowned; she was getting too accustomed to the safety of The Academy. She would have to sharpen her senses before she graduated.

To Ginjou, she shrugged. "Just thinking, is all."

Ginjou gave her an exasperated look. "Could you be any less specific?" He took a huge gulp of water.

Karin elaborated, "I was considering hacking into the headmaster's computer."

Ginjou choked. Renji pounded him on the back as he spluttered, trying to unclog his windpipes. He coughed out, "You're considering what?"

Renji eyes lit up. He realized that Karin thought that they could find some clue as to what the hacking was for on the final test. "I'm in."

As his coughing receded, Ginjou too thought for a moment. He cocked an eyebrow. "Are you recruiting?"

Karin asked in an innocent voice, "Why, you want in?"

The evening found the three chums crouching over a single computer, whispering heatedly.

"No! You should use –"  
"Move over! I'll do it!"  
"Stop shoving me! I'm the one hacking here –"  
"I have more experience –"  
"How do you figure that –"  
"Move over! I'll show you how –"

Following some scrambled non-teamwork, they finally saw the light at the end of the tunnel; they had successfully loaded the headmaster's desktop files. Now they had to download the folders themselves, which would be a whole workload in itself.

But when they read the file names, they felt cheated.

"Snacks A. Snacks B. Snacks C. Feast Dishes. Special Snack to Point Out to Friend." Renji read aloud, with growing anger, which meant volume.

Karin too, was outraged. "What is with this crackpot headmaster? Are snacks the only thing on his mind?"

Only Ginjou thought of another reason. "Wait, even if he gets off on snacks, he wouldn't make files on them."

Snorting, Karin refuted, "Hey, you're the one who discovered the snack room. Apparently that's all for the headmaster's benefit. For all we know, he could be so obsessed with snacks that he lists all the snacks and where they come from, how expensive they are –"

"But 'snack' could be code for the –"

A shadow cast over them from behind.

The three turned around guiltily to see the secretary, Ise Nanao. As small her stature was in comparison to theirs, standing over them, she was incredibly intimidating. Quickly, they hid the computer screen behind their backs, with Ginjou surreptitiously starting to quit the hacking program.

"Eheh, Nanao-san. What brings you –"

Threateningly, Nanao tapped a ruler against her palm. "May I ask what you are doing here at this time…? Don't you have an exam tomorrow?"

As Karin and Renji wracked their minds and stuttered excuses (Karin a bit more coherently than Renji), there was a small beep, indicating Ginjou finally succeeded in wiping the hacking program from the screen.

Still muttering excuses, the trio beat a hasty retreat from the library.

On the way back to their rooms, Renji scuffed his foot.

"Damn. We need to be on-site if we wanted to hack into the headmaster's computer. That, or know the specific IP address."

Karin glared at him. "And whose fault was it that we didn't get so much a snitch of a look at what the so-called 'snack' folders contained?"

Ginjou mediated between them. "Enough enough you two. I'm beat. Don't think too deeply on the hacking. It's probably no biggie. Most of the seniors – at least, all the seniors I've heard of – passed the test." He turned to enter his own luxurious suite, waving his hand. "So rest up for tomorrow."

Ignoring Ginjou's advice, the two bickered the rest of the way back to their rooms.

Stealing a glance around to make sure nobody was looking, Renji draped an arm over Karin's shoulder. "Now now, Haru-chan. We should listen to Ginjou, he may be right, just this once. Let's not get so worked up over the test. I'm sure it'll work out somehow."

About to retort that he was the one she was worried for, Karin bit it back just in time. Despite his façade of nonchalance, she knew that he wanted – needed – to rank within the top three this year, if not nail first place. She too, wanted to place within the top three; not for the money or the prestige, but because she wanted to get a recommendation, for a better chance to start working in the protective service industry as soon as possible.

That night, (after taking her contacts out at Renji's incessant nagging) Karin lay in Renji's warm arms. Long after Renji had fallen asleep, Karin continued to gaze at Renji's face; his aquiline nose, his sharp eyebrows, and high cheekbones… His chiseled face made him look rugged, but he simultaneously seemed to have a hint of innocence in his features. Maybe it was just her, Karin thought, as she planted a soft kiss on his lips.

"Good luck, Mister Renji." Karin smiled slightly and snuggled into Renji's arms.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: Mmph. I'm not satisfied in the scene with Gin. And the mushiness in the chapter... I promise it won't be like that the next chapter… which features the final test!


	14. Mission 14

Disclaimer: Bleach belongs to Kubo Tite.

…

**The Bodyguard**

Mission 14

…

_– The Principal –_

He was typing furiously at his computer, set on – no, bent on – finding out just whom these initials belonged to. He had a faint suspicion about A.R., but none of the others. 魔一 /M.I? 銀空/G.K? 市ギ/I.G? He didn't have a clue, but Kanji had multiple kana pronunciations, and therefore the English initials depended on what came after the first Kanji initial. So he was checking all the records, trying to match initials of everybody who had ever been attended The Academy, been bodyguard, or had any connections to Haru…

Abruptly, his typing halted.

'I don't know a thing about Haru.'

Not his family, nor his friends… Not even his birthday, much less his favorite food, color… all he knew was who Haru's past roommate was.

At this realization, his head sank into his hands.

He didn't know a thing, not a single thing, about the one light of his life. The light was faint and turned towards something that now seemed much larger, darker, and more sinister than he… but a light in his life nonetheless.

Had he really been that negligent towards that light?

Had he ever openly shown the slightest friendliness towards his light?

Had he ever done anything except annoy and torment his light, in a pathetic attempt to vie for his light's attentions?

Was this the reason he was hated by his light?

His light.

His light.

His.

Curling his hands into fists, he raised his head to look at the computer screen with fresh determination.

As if it had sensed its master's renewed resolve, the computer finally gave a loud beep, signaling the best match for the initials A.R/阿恋.

A full-frontal headshot of the redhead that had been his light's former roommate flashed on the screen; and next to it read: Abarai Renji.

He had been right.

…

_2 years ago_

…

On the day of the graduation test, Karin woke up a little after 3 o'clock.

A.M.

She groaned and tried to bury her head back into the pillow, which she discovered was the hard muscle of Renji's arm. Great. However, Renji continued to sleep like a rock.

Sitting up, Karin raked a hand through her semi-long hair. 3 in the morning was way earlier than her ideal waking time. 'Probably due to nerves.' Karin thought grimly.

Despite what others might think, Karin was actually very nervous about the test. The graduation exam. The back of her mind noted that it was her birthday as well. What a pleasant present life had given her.

Preceptor Muguruma had suggested that she, Ginjou, and Renji would get the pairs most difficult to deal with.

And she wasn't sure she could fight them off.

At this point, she was one of the smallest in stature, and by far the lightest in weight. The larger 1st years might be heavier than her by this time.

Sighing and rubbing her eyes, Karin stumbled into the bathroom. She splashed some water onto her face and looked into the mirror, to see blue eyes staring back at her. Her face was pale, and her eyes were brighter than usual. 'Must be the lighting.' Karin thought regretfully as she rubbed her face dry with a towel, prepping to put on her contact lenses.

Once brown eyes stared back at her, she firmly told herself, "Okay, lets do this."

After callously pinching Renji's nose to smother him to consciousness, the two trooped down 18 flights of stairs, dread growing with each step.

The trainees barely greeted each other; they were too tense. They waited for 20 agonizing minutes; each second seemed like an eternity.

Finally, the headmaster showed up.

Karin – as well as many others – grit her teeth, as the tardy headmaster staggered onto the podium, looking even more unkempt than usual.

'Even when he's half-asleep, he has that hat on. He must sleep with it on as well.' she thought, not without some acridity.

Sleepily, he said, "Alrighty kids…" another yawn. "Your job is to do exactly the opposite of what you did your first year." He made to step off the podium, when he spotted the venomous looks from several of the preceptors. Sighing, he added in a bored, mechanic voice, "You will each be… ah… what was the word… administered a laptop and a airsoft weapon, both of which should have your name labeled on it. The rest should have been explained to you yesterday." Grinning widely, he gave them a wave. "Good luck, and tootles!"

Sullenly, the 3rd years went up to get the gear with their names on it. Clipping the weapon holster containing the airsoft gun into her belt, Karin gingerly hefted the laptop, which had a sticky note that read 'Akimoto Haru' attached to the surface.

The trainees looked at the laptops as if they didn't know what to do with it.

'One thing you can do is bash in the headmaster's head.' Karin thought maliciously.

Preceptor Hirako noticed the 3rd years' looks (which wasn't too hard, they all looked completely at a loss for what to do) and took the stage – as he always did.

"You will each go to the assigned place written on the back of your respective sticky note."

There was a swishing sound as the trainees simultaneously unstuck the sticky notes and flipped them over. Karin saw her assigned location, and another strange code below it.

"Once you are there, you will prepare. The preceptors will carry trackers… but you will have to find the tracer to the corresponding tracker first. As to how you'll find these tracers, I'll leave that for you to figure out. It's not that hard."

'Hacking.' Karin thought. 'Using these computers to find the tracers.'

She didn't know what system she needed to hack into; the possibilities were almost endless. Almost.

"After you've acquired a tracer, you will have to type into your tracer your respective activation codes, which you see written below your assigned area, affixing to your respective targets' tracker. Then you just wait until your designated 'target' activates his tracker."

For the first time since Karin had seen him, the preceptor smiled. The smile showed all his perfectly aligned teeth, as if advertising for a dental commercial; but unlike the models featured in the dental commercials, the effect was rather creepy. No dental promoter would hire Hirako Shinji. Ever. "And before you ask, you will find out who your target is when you see them." His smile widened. "It'll be more fun that way, won't it?"

He looked them over. "That will be all. Dismissed."

Karin looked down at the sticky note, which had 'shooting range' printed on it.

She walked towards the basement, noting that Renji was heading upstairs, towards the lecture rooms.

She set foot into the empty shooting range. It had been a while since she stood here alone. Automatically, she went over to the wall and reached out for a handgun, before pulling her hand back. That wasn't what she had come for. This wasn't training; it was an exam.

Setting the laptop down on the wooden floor, Karin sat in front of it, waiting for it to turn on. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath.

When she heard the sound of the computer turning on, Karin opened her eyes.

The desktop screen was empty. No icons, nothing. Completely empty.

Moving the cursor to the bottom of the screen, Karin clicked on the start button.

There was nothing but a configuration button.

"Great…"

She was going to have to program a whole computer, and a hacking system.

Karin sighed. "I'd better get started…"

3 hours later found Karin biting her lip in concentration. At last, she typed the last command with a flourish. "Ahah!" She exclaimed.

Immediately, the screen filled with basic application and disk drive icons, accompanied by windows, and most importantly, the hacking program came up.

Now she just had to figure out where to hack. She glanced at her watch. It was 8:37 in the morning. Hacking into different systems with different length passwords, would take a long while. She wasn't sure if she would get it on time, but she would have to try.

"Let's see… which system is most likely to have the locations of the tracers…" Karin murmured to herself, typing in all the possible places. The library archives, the secretaries' computers, Hirako Shinji's… Kaname Tousen didn't have a computer… Would Gin have it in his system? Karin shook Gin out of her head but wrote down his name regardless. After a moment of hesitation, she also typed the headmaster's – Urahara Kisuke – name.

The IP addresses loaded. Most of them came along with all their cookies, except for Gin's; from his teaching, Karin figured he was probably on par with Ikkaku in hacking and security, but there had to be a weakness somewhere…

Better to crack the hardest one first, Karin decided, and begin to hack into Gin's system. Finally managing to access his cookies, Karin skimmed through the sites that Gin had visited, which included various weapons companies. Ammo. Co., the smaller Firebrand Group… and Kurosaki Armament.

Her heart plummeted when she Google-searched 'Kurosaki' and saw the auto complete: Kurosaki Karin. Images.

She swallowed hard, hesitating whether to type in her own, former name, into the password box. She wondered for the 2nd time if Gin really knew her true identity.

Or he could have just been interested in her disappearance.

Hands trembling, she typed in 'Kurosaki Karin.' Her finger hovered over the 'enter' key. But she couldn't bring herself to press it, and lowered her hand. 'If it really is the password, then no other student would ever guess or hack into it… the location of the tracers probably won't be there.' Quickly, Karin pressed the cancel button before she changed her mind.

The library was chosen as the next location of attack. When that failed, she targeted the secretaries' personal computers next, and struck gold.

Each tracker had a different hiding place, and she would try several of them. After memorizing several of the locations, Karin shut the laptop and hid it beneath a random weapons rack. She didn't want the pain of lugging the laptop around with her.

After a moment of hesitation, she started to take off her shoes and socks as well. She wanted to be quiet, and her shoes wouldn't help in any way or fashion. She realized that Preceptor Tousen, besides memorizing every nook and cranny by his bare feet, also went around bare foot for stealth as well.

She wriggled her toes. The wooden floor wasn't so cold, but she doubted that the stone floor outside wouldn't be.

Wetting her lips nervously, Karin went up the stairs quietly to go to the first location that the tracer could be. The so-called 'lounge.' Upon her arrival, Karin looked about, eyes sharp. The lounge had human traces. Stools and tables had been shifted.

So she went to the next place: the snackroom. Again, nothing.

Ginjou and Renji must've gotten there before her, Karin thought ruefully. Well, there were still other fish in the sea – uh wait. Pond; there were limited amount of tracers.

The library was the next location. Nada.

A surprising number of trainees knew how to program and hack quickly. Karin had never seen them exhibit such skills… 'Goes to show how self-centered I am.' Karin thought bitterly.

The next few locations turned out negative as well. Karin clenched her jaw in poorly suppressed anger. Had she decoded the list wrong? But that couldn't be…

The last place Karin had memorized was the swimming pool. If nothing was there, she would have to retreat back to her computer to regroup, and memorize the remaining areas potentially hiding the tracers.

There was bound to be at least one tracer for her; at least, if the others hadn't snatched two, just to sabotage the slower hackers.

At this 'passing' thought, Karin's blood ran cold. She started to sprint to the pool, and banged the door open. She saw a figure climb out of the pool.

"Shishi…gawara?"

He had a tracer – which Karin vaguely noted was probably made of waterproof material – clutched in his hands… but that wasn't what she was looking at. His jacket was bulging with numerous outlines that matched the contour of the tracer he held in his hands. She narrowed her eyes.

Shishigawara tried to fob it off. Hastily hiding the tracers he already had, he laughed unconvincingly. "Oi Akimoto! I see you've come here as well! But it's first come first serve, you know?"

Karin advanced with a threatening look. "Don't fuck with me, Shishigawara. You know full well that I see you have more than one tracer." Step by step, she cocked her head. "I didn't know that you were this underhanded."

Stiffening, Shishigawara retorted, "Don't put the blame on me. You were too slow!" He straightened. "And this isn't underhanded. This is the way life will work, and these tracers were up for grabs!"

He tried to dash past Karin.

Karin extended her arm where Shishigawara neck should have been, had he succeeded in getting past her. Ramming into her arm, Shishigawara skid across the floor to the edge of the pool again. Struggling into a sitting position, he massaged his neck.

"How unlucky. To be caught by one of the best…" With surprising litheness, he jumped to his feet. "But don't think I've shown all my abilities during training."

Though Karin became nervous at this statement, she assured herself, 'If he hasn't honed his skills during training, then no matter how much he practiced during the extra time we have, he can't be good. At all.'

So when he lunged at her, she used what had become her best martial art: drunken fist.

As expected, Shishigawara was unable to read her movements; on the other hand, Karin could read his movements with ridiculous ease. Inwardly, Karin snorted. She hit the back of his neck, hard. 'That'll do it.' she thought, satisfied.

But it didn't, as Shishigawara wheeled around, merely looking annoyed as if she were just a mosquito.

Karin's eyes widened; were her attacks too weak?

As if he had read her mind, Shishigawara grinned. "Naw, that attack was fine." A he shot forward again, he said tauntingly, "for anyone else, maybe." He punched her in the gut, and Karin flew backwards, slamming into the door. Karin didn't get up from the floor, half numb from the attack, the other half in acute pain from the door handle; she had flown directly into it. She was lucky that her spine wasn't cracked; there would just be a huge bruise on her back. Though she had stepped back in an attempt to 'soften' the blow, it had still been enough to throw her back 5 meters.

Seeing confusion mixed with the pain in her eyes, Shishigawara shrugged. "I guess what I've been hiding is the extent of my stamina and strength." He added flippantly, "I guess being bigger might've helped too."

With that, he walked past her. "See ya later, Akimoto."

But Shishigawara was forcefully thrown back into the pool.

Surprised, Karin whipped around to look outside the glass of the door and caught a glimpse of red.

"Renji…" she breathed.

Renji knelt beside her and firmly kept her from standing up. "Did he do this to you?" he asked with ill-suppressed anger.

The rapidly decreasing adrenaline seemed to have an inverse relationship with the pain in her back. Fighting the pain shooting up from the center of her back, Karin attempted a laugh. "It was his birthday present to me. A rough one, I admit. But fair."

As Shishigawara staggered out of the pool once more, Ginjou skidded into the room as well.

Immediately, he saw Shishigawara's front pocket bulging with tracers and strode forward briskly. Taking Shishigawara by the nape of his collar, Ginjou shook him, causing all the tracers to fall out and clatter onto the tiles.

"I'll be taking those, thank you. And since we were friends, I'll leave you one. Go along then. Shoo." His voice was light, but his face likened to one of a tiger's that had just his tail trod on.

Wisely, Shishigawara just let it go and left the room, giving one resentful look back. No matter how strong his stamina, he was outnumbered by Renji and Ginjou and smaller than them both.

Ginjou tossed Renji two of the tracers. "Here you go." He too, gave Karin a worried look. "You sure you can pass the exam in that that state, Akimoto?"

Renji said, "Of course he will." But his expression gave away his uncertainty. Nonetheless, he held a tracer out to Karin. He whispered to her, "Can you?"

Panting harshly from the pain, she refused the tracer. "I don't deserve it. But I definitely will make it. I have to." she muttered. Pushing the device back into Renji's hands, she shakily stood up. Renji tried to help her, but Karin swatted his hand away. "Go away Abarai. Don't you have a test to do?"

He smiled weakly. "Well, I don't think the tests for the first years are done yet."

Ginjou, who had apparently just finished typing in his activation code, contradicted him. "If they weren't finished before, they are now. My target's just turned on his tracker." Giving them one last look, he said, "Good luck, you two."

That left Karin and Renji alone.

Renji seemed indecisive.

"I know that if a normal third year failed to complete the exam, they'd be thrown out of this school… but that won't apply to you, will it? Since you skipped a grade."

Karin sighed. "It's safer not to assume things." She gazed at him. "And I want to graduate with you guys. With you."

"Then take this." Renji pressed the tracer into her hands. "And be careful. Don't push yourself."

At this, Karin laughed, a little stronger this time. "What are you, my mom? Stop nagging and go trace your target already."

He was stubborn. "After I see you punch in your activation code."

Though she scowled, Karin obliged, typing in the activation code she had written on her inner wrist.

"Lowercase s…starting parenthesis…1…2… ending parenthesis…lowercase h…another lowercase s…Capital I…opening bracket…1…zero…closing bracket…lowercase i…lowercase n…" She frowned.

This seemed familiar somehow. But she couldn't put her finger on it. Nervous for no apparent reason, she continued typing, "underscore…black…underscore…point…" Her eyes widened.

Seeing her reaction, Renji too, became tense. "What is it?"

Not wanting to worry Renji on an important test day, Karin gave him a convincing grin. "Nothing. Just realizing how late we are. Let's go."

Renji seemed to swallow this explanation.

Karin's tracer said her target was somewhere in the library. Just like where she had 'protected' the headmaster the previous year. At the point where her path separated from Renji's, she began to take off in the other direction when she saw Renji hesitating. She paused.

"Renji? What's wrong?"

In a few strides, Renji closed the distance between them and kissed Karin, softly and sweetly. Though surprised, she kissed him back.

"What was that for?" Karin asked, as they broke apart.

Holding her head close to his so their foreheads were touching Renji whispered, "For luck."

Letting go, he said, "Be careful. Don't let those firsties get to you."

Though the possibility of getting a super strong tag team concerned her, another thought took up the lion's share of her mind.

Her activation code.

s(12)hsI[10]in_black_point.

Her father's name and birthdate were scrambled.

The letters: shsIin… the letters reassembled into 'Isshin.'

'Black' and 'point'? 'Kuro' and 'saki.'

The (12) and [10]… December and the 10th respectively.

It could just be coincidence. Maybe someone was just a diehard fan of her father. But Karin knew it was just wishful thinking.

Either Gin was the one who had made and distributed the activation codes, or someone else knew her true identity. Both were terrible scenarios, but for some reason, of the two, Karin hoped that it was the former.

Soon enough, she was at the library. Suppressing her pain the best she could, Karin crept like a cat – albeit an injured one. She crept up the stairs, to the upper levels where she could spy on them.

Any fears of discovery were blown away when Karin saw her target, with the characteristic green and white accessory perched atop his head.

'Well, at least I'll get him back for the first-year exam.' Karin winced and put a hand to her back. 'If that's even possible in my current state…'

Her eyes turned to examine his bodyguards; one had pink shoulder-length hair, and the other with long blonde hair. How had they even slithered past The Academy's rules concerning dyed hair?

When Karin saw they sported same face features she realized they were twins.

Internally, she smacked her head. 'Twins? Twins! Their teamwork will be almost impossible to crack!'

Pain all but forgotten, Karin seethed as she wrung out her brain to make an even slightly feasible plan. In a corner of her mind she fantasized about all the terrible things she'd do to the person who arranged these exams, if and when she found out just who was in charge of it.

A plan – or a rough sketch of one – had formed in Karin's head by the end of 5 minutes.

The first step of the plan Karin had cooked up involved distracting the twins. She would have to make a sound from a completely different direction from where she stood. That was simple, she thought, as she fished out a random knick-knack that Ginjou had given her (a wrapped *okashi, typical of him) and threw it across the library, where it hit the side of a bookshelf and bounced off with a distinct crinkling sound.

[*Okashi: Japanese snack]

The twins' heads turned to the sound almost on instinct… then the pink-haired one immediately traced the item back to her.

"Yylfordt! Up there!"

Karin gulped.

Shit. Scheizers.

The pinkie knew how to read trajectories. The plan had gone awry on the first step. So she dashed away, stealing another look at the tracer in her hand. Luckily, the twins hadn't evacuated the headmaster yet. If Karin had the luxury, she would have grinned, but each nanosecond she didn't use effectively was a nanosecond lost.

She faintly heard the blondie tell the pinkie. "– let's split up, Szayelaporro –"

Hearing the pinkie's annoyed retort to his twin's order, Karin saw her chance.

Unlatching her airsoft gun from its holster, Karin snuck around to another entrance and spied the headmaster's trademark hat from over a bookshelf once again. Aiming her gun, she released the safety latch and shot. But the hat was knocked off, not from the headmaster's head, but off a leg of a stool placed upside down on the surface of a table.

Upon realizing she'd been duped, she tried to beat a hasty retreat, but the blonde of the twins – Yylfordt – tackled her, slamming her into a bookshelf. The bookshelf stood firm against their combined weights; most of this weight belonged to Yylfordt with Karin pinned to the bookshelf under him. Karin almost broke her teeth trying to restrain a scream of pain, but a muffled yell escaped her lips anyways. If the exterior of her spine hadn't been bruised already, it definitely would be now.

Mustering all her strength, she raised her elbow and smashed it into Yylfordt's nose, temporarily blinding him. As his hold slackened, she shoved herself out, causing him to stagger forward headfirst into the bookshelf. Taking the chance, Karin 'shot' him and moved on. But as if pinkie had a magnetic pull towards his twin, Szayelaporro showed up immediately afterwards, aiming a shot at her.

Luckily, Karin had predicted what he would do and dodged just in time. As the blast of air barely missed her with a high-pitched whistle, Karin fought the instinct to close her eyes. Briefly after he had shot the gun, he showed the smallest bit of an opening, as most people did. Taking that chance, she shot him.

He squeezed his eyes shut as the air hit him straight between the eyes.

When he opened his eyes again, Karin breathed a private sigh of relief; a hit from this distance – even if it was only air – might have blinded him. Leaving the twin bodyguards muttering in resentment and pain, Karin stood up and walked, barely managing to maintain a normal gait. Grimacing, she thought, 'All that's left is to hunt down that damn headmaster.'

That wasn't very hard, as he was never far from his hat.

Karin found him picking up the accursed green-striped hat from the ground and dusting it off with what she thought was an expression that seemed like careful disinterest.

He pretended to just notice her. "Oh~ so you've defeated the Grantz brothers?"

Without bothering to answer, Karin leveled her airsoft gun at him and shot.

Surprisingly, she missed. Astonished, she trained the gun on the headmaster again. Had she lost her touch with the handgun? But she had shot the twins just fine…

The headmaster wagged a finger at her.

"That won't do, Mr. Akimoto, I haven't finished talking to you yet." Though his voice light, he had already put his hat on, hiding his face expression, which may or may not have been a dangerous one.

"You've done well to graduate from this place in two years. I couldn't have done better, and neither could have your father."

Karin froze. First her activation code, now this? Guardedly, she replied, "What… do you mean, my father? Headmaster."

Urahara Kisuke shrugged. "Well, Akimoto Daichi could have attended this place, no?"

Karin ignored the oddity that the headmaster would know the exact name of her pseudo father; she pulled the trigger once more, but the headmaster maddeningly somehow sidestepped it again. It was as if he knew where the bullet would contact with him and sidled to the side just in time.

The seemingly 'incompetent' headmaster gave a mock sigh and said, "Well, all that aside, I really should pretend to be a normal target and stop dodging your shots. But I thought that you should know that I'm merely judging the direction of the nozzle and avoiding the shot." He winked, and finally allowed Karin to shoot him, albeit from a distance. Karin dropped her hand, where it hung limply by her side, her hold on the gun slackening.

Though she had successfully 'killed' her target, she felt like she had lost. The headmaster, always so infuriating, had done it again. It was humiliating, to know that he could so easily dodge the shots, but that he had purposefully held still just to let her pass the test.

Had he done the same for her predecessors as well?

Were all the preceptors like this, holding back when they could have fought back?

Choosing to exit the door behind Karin, the headmaster paused very briefly and whispered to her, "You are very similar to the student who had your job last year." He gave her a sly sidelong look. "Except he wasn't nearly as injured as you." He brushed past her and laughed, "Then again, he didn't have to program a whole computer from scratch."

Karin only had a brief moment to process his words before she turned around. Indignant, she forgot to be verbally respectful to the headmaster. "Hey! You mean these year's seniors were the first ones who had to program a whole effin computer?"

Walking away from her Karin, the Urahara Kisuke said airly, "Just you and two others, I believe." He fluttered his fingers at her. "Ta ta. I shall see you at the commencement speech tomorrow."

When he sauntered out the doorway, Karin felt her anger ebb away. All the humiliation from him going easy on her, all the resentment that she had been one of the few ones who had to program a whole computer…

As the anger abated, the renewed adrenaline that had fueled Karin through the fight against the Grantz brothers drained away as well, bringing the pain rushing back like water through a broken floodgate.

Abandoning all pretense of strength, Karin staggered out of the library. When she reached the stair edge, Karin looked down at the ground, which oddly seemed dizzyingly high. She clutched at the stair railing, suddenly feeling acrophobic. Squeezing her eyes shut, Karin thought, 'This is ridiculous. I'm not afraid of heights.'

Ever so carefully, Karin snailed down the stairs. But going down the stairs, albeit slowly, was a poor choice; Karin belatedly realized this when her vision started to tunnel. Her mind was starting to shut down from the pain. Leaning heavily on the stair railing, Karin told herself out loud.

"Oh no you don't, Kurosaki Karin. You can't pass out now."

Gripping the railing still more tightly, she took a few more steps down, before her knees buckled. Karin's last conscious thought was that she was going to break her neck before she became a bodyguard.

She didn't even feel somebody grab her around the waist before she toppled headfirst down the steps.

"Silly girl. She said her real name out loud. What happened to your pseudonym?" Gin smiled sadly down at the unconscious girl. "I guess this is the last time I get to see you here." His dialect was nearly undetectable. "Karin."

Holding Karin tightly to his chest, the silver-haired preceptor carried her down the rest of the remaining stairs and gently set her down outside the designated room where the 3rd years would meet after they completed their exam. Running his fingers through Karin's sweat-matted hair, now long enough to brush her shoulders and frame her tanned but delicate face, Gin whispered, "You probably can't hear me, but you really should cut your hair if you want to keep your identity a secret."

Giving the unconscious girl one last look, Gin disappeared.

Karin found herself shaken awake. Blearily opening her eyes, she looked around, disoriented. She could've sworn that she'd been falling down the stairs… Then again, she could've just walked there, nearly asleep; she'd dreamt of Gin brushing his fingers through her hair… saying something to her…

Renji's face came into her vision. "'ello Renji." Karin croaked out. Smiling wearily, she asked, "Did I make it?"

She felt his strong arms help her to her feet and support her. Though he still looked worried, Renji cracked a grin.

"See for yourself."

Karin's tired eyes had to sweep around the room several times before they found the boards.

1\. Abarai Renji

3\. Ginjou Kuugo, Akimoto Haru

Closing her eyes, Karin felt her knees give way in relief. Realizing that Karin could no longer stand, Renji gently set her on the ground.

She had tied with Ginjou. Feeling a wetness gather around her eyes and not knowing whether they were sweat or tears, Karin lay spread-eagle on the ground, covering her eyes with an arm.

She had gotten through the final exam. She had passed.

Through the whirlwind of relieved thoughts, one muggy thought occurred to her.

"Where's Shishigawara?" Karin asked in a muffled voice.

"He was gone by the time we got here."

Karin thought that she'd be angry with Shishigawara and his underhanded tactics, but what he had said downstairs was right. It wasn't actually underhanded. Real life would be like that. Then another thought came to mind.

"Did you have program your computer from scratch?" She lifted her arm off her now dry eyes to see Renji's face of annoyance.

"Turns out that Ginjou and I were the only ones who had to program our computers. None of the other guys were given unprogrammed computers like ours." He turned to her and said, "Should've guessed that you'd gotten an unprogrammed computer as well."

Having overheard their conversation, Ginjou approached them. "Oh, so you got a blank computer as well, eh, Akimoto?"

Karin glumly nodded as she struggled to stand up.

"Don't bother." Ginjou advised. "Coming here was just perfunctory anyways. It's just to see how you placed." After a beat, he added, "And to return the laptop and weapon." He jerked his head towards the pile of laptops and weapons.

Turning her eyes back to the board, Karin grimaced.

"Obviously injuries aren't taken into account when they feed you scores. Otherwise I'd be dead last."

Ginjou shoved his hands into his pockets. "Of course they do. It was because you succeeded in carrying out the exam in that shitty state that earned you the score that you did." He smirked. "So we tied for 2nd place."

Closing her eyes again, Karin pinched the bridge of her nose. "Actually, it doesn't mean much that we ranked in the top 3 of 18 students. That's 60th percentile for the both of us." Karin pointed out.

When Ginjou scowled at her, Karin shrugged, wincing when the movement caused a sharp pain in her back.

"What's the point of looking at percentile among 18 students anyways? Potential employers don't look at percentile, they look at your grades." Ginjou stubbornly crossed his arms.

Karin rolled her eyes. "Whatever you say." Turning to Renji, she said, "Abarai, a hand, por favor? I have my airsoft gun, but I wanna go back downstairs to get my laptop."

Crouching down beside her, Renji put an arm around her torso and hoisted Karin up to her feet. When Renji steered Karin in the direction of the stairs that led up to the rooms, she said, "That's not where I was assigned to go. I was assigned to go downstairs, to the shooting range."

Renji said shortly, "I know."

Unduly irritated, Karin said, "Well then. Turn the other way, and go down the steps."

He continued to half-carry Karin along to the steps that led upstairs, to their room.

"Oi, Abarai! I said that we need to go downstairs and get my laptop!" She struggled to tear herself from his grip, but he held her firmly. "Leggo!"

Had she been in peak condition, she'd have been able to escape from his hold. But as of now, she was as weak as a kitten and completely helpless.

Ginjou grinned at her toothily. "Looks like your suitie isn't gonna let you go. Just give up and go upstairs. From the looks of it, you're not fit to go anywhere anytime soon. He'll go and return your laptop for you."

Though annoyed, Karin saw how worried Renji was and put a reassuring hand on his arm. "At least it's better than last year. I wasn't socked in the eye." She made a pathetic attempt to chuckle.

Renji just gripped her more tightly.

Ginjou, who was walking beside them to head up to his own room as well, gave them an odd look. After a moment, he shrugged and muttered, "Why do I feel like the third wheel here…?"

Despite her body's protests, Karin slapped Ginjou's back, albeit weakly. "Naw, you're our support. When Renji and I fought, aren't you the one who bashed our heads together to make us reconcile?" She nudged him slyly. "No matter how big of a scar you left on Renji's shoulder."

Ginjou looked both alarmed and sheepish. "So you found out after all…?"

Karin managed a half-shrug. "Well, it was a clever ploy that had us tricked for a while, but in hindsight, it was rather obvious."

"I didn't realize." Renji said grumpily. He glared at Ginjou. "So you cut me with your spear on purpose, eh?"

Pretending to be deaf, Ginjou sauntered forward. "Man, am I tired." He said loudly, faking a huge yawn. "Know what, I'ma go rest in my room. Let's celebrate our graduation tomorrow." He lifted a hand up in adios, saying, "My room. Snacks and 'juice' on me."

A quarter of the way up, Renji lifted Karin up into his arms, carrying her.

As his hold stretched her back, Karin hissed in pain. "Sorry," Renji said apologetically, bounding up the stairs two steps at a time. "But this'll be better for you in the long run. It'll also be much quicker."

Karin grimaced every time a step jostled her painfully stretched back. "It better be, Abarai…" she said tightly.

Several excruciating minutes later, Renji fumbled with his keys and opened the door into their suite.

Once she was set down on her bed, Karin exhaled deeply, the support alleviating the pain in her back. Slightly.

Going back to the door, Renji said, "Can you wait a bit while I get an icepack from the infirmary?"

As she carefully lay down on her stomach, Karin snorted. "What else can I do in this state? Dance? Carouse around the halls?"

Rolling his eyes, Renji said, "I take that as a 'yes'."

What felt like mere minutes later, Renji came back, bearing an ice pack.

Impressed that he had made it down and back up 18 flights of stairs in that short period of time, Karin commented, "That was really fast. What, did the nurses meet you halfway?"

Finally showing signs of weariness, Renji said tiredly, "Ha ha. Very funny."

He gently placed the ice pack upon Karin's back. "Where does it hurt? Is it here?"

"Ah…!" Karin almost fell off of her bed at the cold contact on her skin. As it was, she took a sharp breath.

After much trial, error and whimpering, Karin moaned slightly as the pain finally subsided a bit. "Mm…yeah. Right there…" She gave a sigh of relief.

Renji had a strange expression on his face. He stared at Karin for a bit before looking away.

Karin didn't know what that was about, but his face was rapidly turning as red as the roots of his hair. Was it because of the sounds she had made?

Karin didn't ask. Maybe it because she had showed too much weakness… though she had no idea why he would feel embarrassed about that. Unless he was regretting that he had feelings for her.

This horrible thought made Karin force back the pain and sit up on the bed – though she kept the ice pack on her back.

Suddenly, Renji looked at her again and said, "Oh yeah, I have something to give you." His face was back to normal, with only a hint of red remaining on his cheeks, which disappeared when he smiled.

"Close your eyes."

Karin narrowed her eyes suspiciously. "What for?" She pinched his nose lightly. "'Cause if you're going to steal a kiss," She leaned in close to his face until they were almost nose to nose, "You're more than welcome to." Smirking, she tilted her head until she could feel his breath on her cheek. "No need to steal." she breathed.

She made to kiss him, but Renji leaned back and she almost toppled off of the bed.

"Nup. Nuh uh."

Karin looked at him, partly taken aback and partly annoyed. She folded her arms and asked crossly, "Then what do you want me to close my eyes for?"

Renji covered her eyes with a hand. "Stop asking and just close your eyes already."

Sullenly, Karin complied, grumbling, "I can't see behind your hand anyways."

He took out a necklace: the hematite pendant that Karin had been looking at in the department store last summer. He fastened it around her neck.

Karin, feeling the metal around her neck followed by a slight weight, opened her eyes, surprised. Automatically, she raised a hand around her neck.

"What – "

Renji was grinning broadly. "Happy birthday, Karin."

Karin looked down, trying to look at the choker, but Renji laughed. "Since you're in no state to go to the bathroom and look in the mirror and I can't well rip the mirror off the wall for you…" He leaned forward and unclasped the necklace.

When Karin recognized the pendant, her eyes widened. Lifting them up to Renji's face, she asked raised an eyebrow. "And... how did you know...?"

Embarrassed, Renji rubbed his neck and said incoherently, "I, err… Um."

Unable to contain it any longer, Karin burst out into giggles. "You were spying on me!" She accused between hiccups of laughter.

Renji looked so embarrassed that Karin took pity on him; she landed a quick kiss on Renji's cheek.

"If it were anybody and anything else, I'd say that a bodyguard doesn't need things like jewelry… but I don't think I'll ever object to this combo."

She wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him deeply, which he returned.

Breaking off the kiss, Karin leaned her forehead against his and sighed, "If I were in decent condition, you'd be getting more than a kiss but alas…" Despite her attempt at mock-tragic tone, her mouth was curling up into a smile, as was Renji's. "I'll just have to postpone my expression of gratitude."

Renji grinned. "I'll hold you to that, Kurosaki."

So that choker hung round Karin's neck to the commencement speech the next day.

As always, the headmaster spoke in the beginning. "It's been 3 years, and whether they felt long or short is up to you. Now it's time for you to fly out of this comfortable nest and leave. Good Nigh – I mean, *'Good Morning and Good Luck.'"

[*In case you didn't know, there's a movie called 'Good Night and Good Luck.' directed by George Clooney.]

The headmaster stepped off the stage, but for once, lingered to listen as Preceptor Hirako resignedly mounted the stage to address the students.

The blonde preceptor acknowledged the headmaster rather curtly.

"Thank you for that… emotional speech, headmaster." his voice carried the slightest hint of sarcasm, which apparently went unnoticed. He turned to the third years.

He then turned to the trainees. "If you've listened to the commencement speech years before, you will know what happens next. The top three will receive their scholarships, and you will all receive diplomas. You will also have your recommendation letters – compiled by our secretaries – and records sent out to all the places that we deem most likely to hire you." He cast is sharp eyes over the 18 graduates.

"You do not get to choose. I repeat, you have no choice in which companies that we send your records to. Should you ignore the work place that we have chosen for you, it will be very hard to find a job; not many places will accept a freshly graduated executive protector who has no recommendation from his school." Waving a hand dismissively, he continued, "In the case you choose to go to secondary school, inform the secretaries that they send the records after you have graduated. To those of you who choose to go straight into the Protective industry, the places that have been sent recommendations will contact you at your given address by June at the latest. If you will live elsewhere from whence you came, then inform the The Academy of your new address and we will redirect the offers you receive to the given location. That is all. Well done, all of you."

Preceptor Hirako moved on to give a short speech to the second years and the customary caustic speech addressing the probationers.

The headmaster examined all of the third years, his gray eyes lingering on a slight figure that sat stock still after Hirako Shinji had declared them emancipated from The Academy.

Unaware of the pair of gray eyes surveying her, Karin stared blankly forward, unable to believe it. She had graduated from The Academy in 2 years.

She barely held back her tears. 'See, Ikkaku. You were wrong. I have graduated from this place."

It was only when all the trainees stood up and began to file out of the hall did the realization finally hit her; Karin buried her face into her hands and her shoulders began to shake. In the middle of standing up, Renji looked at her, alarmed. He crouched down next to her and touched her shoulder.

But to his surprise, Karin was laughing. Her laughter crescendo'ed until she had outright thrown her head back in laughter.

"I made it!" She leapt to her feet and ignoring her sore back, jumped on each of her friends in turn. "I made it! I've graduated!"

At such an exuberant show of excitement including hugging, the guys were at a loss for what to do. Ginjou said wryly, "Gee Akimoto. If I didn't know otherwise, I'd think that you were a girl."

While Renji grimaced at this, Karin ignored the implications of the comment and jumped on Ginjou as well, putting him in a headlock as best she could for a man almost a head taller than her.

"So I'm happy about graduating! So shoot me! I don't give a f–"

Ginjou shook her off easily. "Well, if you're that happy," he grinned sneakily," this calls for a celebration, doesn't it?"

Later, in his room, they held up their beer cans in toast.

"To graduation!"  
"To us surviving The Jungle!"  
"To finally escaping this hellpit once and for all!"

They all clacked their cans together, each toasting to something different.

Unlike their previous parties, Shishigawara was absent, Karin noted. Closing her eyes, she tilted her head back to drain the remaining contents of her beer can.

It was her third beer but as she reached for her fourth, Renji intercepted by grabbing the can before she did.

Frowning in annoyance, Karin reached out to take the can beyond it. Renji's left hand knocked hers away and took that too. Realizing what Renji was up to, Karin pursed her lips. If that was how it was going to be, she would not let Renji have his way. She made to take two cans of Asahi at once, but growled when Renji subtly moved his body in between her and the cans, leaving only the snacks accessible to her. That was the last straw.

Karin crossed her arms and said loudly, "Stop hogging all the juice for yourself, Abarai."

Renji's only answer was to half turn his head to her and smirk at Karin before he took another gulp. Tossing the can to the rapidly growing pile of empty beer cans, Renji slung an arm around her shoulder, and whispered to her tipsily, "I don't want you getting drunk. You're still not fully recovered from the exam. Having a pounding headache the next morning isn't going to help~"

He had a point, Karin thought irritably, and refrained from drinking any further, choosing instead to munch on various snacks.

"Oy Renji! Whash're you telling Haru? It better not be about us!" Keigo slurred, pointing a finger at Renji.

"Naw, they're soft whispers of love for my suitie!" Renji hollered back with a lopsided grin plastered on his face. The guys laughed rowdily at this, save for Ginjou, who sipped his beer thoughtfully, having noticed Karin's sulking long before Renji's 'joke' about 'whispers of love.' Giving up on thinking on it, Ginjou downed the rest of his can. What did it matter if his 2 best mates were acting odd around each other? He thought sourly.

Several cases of beer later, the boys, much like the year before, were sprawled all over the room. Renji retained his consciousness, if only barely. He managed to stand up but he swayed precariously.

Karin looked at him disdainfully as she too, stood up. "Serves you right." She looked towards the half-conscious Ginjou.

Raising his can to her, he toasted, "So long, my two best mateys. It'll be hard to replace you two, but I'll try my bestest."

"'Try your hardest,' you mean." Karin corrected absently, watching Renji stagger towards the door. She turned to Ginjou and said, "And what do you mean, 'so long'? It's 'see you tomorrow.'"

Ginjou shook his can, beer sloshing out of the top. "Nope." He accented the 'p' with a popping sound. "A car'z coming to pick me up in'bout…" Glancing down at his wristwatch, he cocked an eyebrow and said, "three hours." He looked around ruefully. "It's gonna be hell trying to clean up this place…"

"I'll help you once I get this git upstairs." Karin offered. "And if you're leaving without saying anything to these guys," she nodded to the collective unconscious young men, "they'll be pissed as hell."

He took another draught of beer. "They're big boys, they can cope by themselves. And no need to help. Go upstairs and sleep, you look shot."

Ruffling his hair vigorously, Karin said cheekily, "If I ain't seeing ya tomorrow, I'll see ya around, dude."

Swatting her hand away, Ginjou said, "I doubt it. And don't cross the line, Akimoto. My hair's one of my defining traits."

Though the situation called for levity, Karin gazed at Ginjou seriously. "No, really. I'll see you around." She hesitated, then added, "…Kuugo."

Said Ginjou Kuugo aimed for the pile of empty beer cans, but was intoxicated to the point of missing it by a foot, which was unimaginable for his normal self.

"Scheizers."

Karin didn't know if he was referring to his miscalculation or her having mustered the courage to call him by his given name.

Staring at the pile of empty cans, Ginjou said, "…Ya know, I tell everybody to call me Ginjou… Because '銀城' means 'silver stronghold.' I mean, 'silver stronghold' is a hell of a lot better than 'Kuugo.'" He popped another can of beer open. "'Kuugo.' '空吾.' Empty. Vanity. What kind of name is that?" He laughed humorlessly and tilted his head back to take a large gulp of beer. "But it's probably the last time I'm gonna see you, so I'm letting it go this time." He swiveled an eye over to Karin. "…Haru."

So they parted, having said each others given name and alias to each other for the first time.


	15. Mission 15

Disclaimer: Bleach belongs to Kubo Tite.

…

**The Bodyguard**

Mission 15

…

_– The Principal –_

He woke up in a bed, sore all over. The last thing he remembered was facing his executive protector… Slowly, he sat up, wincing as pain laced down his spine starting from his neck. He had been in enough fights to figure that was where he had been hit before blacking out.

He lay in an unfamiliar place. Posters of various soccer players, the best martial artists in their own principles, and all the newest firearm technology – especially ones from Kurosaki Armament – covered the walls. He also saw some bright, cushy furniture mixed with some more dark, modern ones. It seemed like the large studio housed two people, with two different dressers and two desks. The dark modern furniture strangely reminded him of his bodyguard…

Unsteadily, he rose from the bed, vaguely taking note of the muddy mess he had left on the bed sheets.

One of the dressers had three framed pictures haphazardly perched on it; all three of them were oddly dust free in comparison to the surface they sat on.

In the frame to the right, there was what he recognized as Purikura.

Every single woman he had been with had begged to take one with him, but he'd adamantly refused. If he'd acquiesced, he would have an entire closetful of them, each with a different woman. But that was irrelevant to the situation at hand.

He examined the Purikura. The first panel in the Purikura was of a young girl with long hair making a victory sign beside an annoyed looking bald man. The next panel had both of them making silly faces, and the third one had both of them smiling. His lips curled up at the corners despite himself. Both looked so happy in the picture. His smile faded as he recalled a time where he too could have had such joyful times… he shook off the thoughts.

The girl looked vaguely familiar, but he couldn't quite put a finger on it. She looked cute in the picture, which had '2006' splattered messily in digital paint on it. That was five years ago. She would have grown up to be quite the unconventional beauty… Not his usual type, but hey, a beauty's a beauty. Had he gone out with her before? He cursed his black hole of a memory.

In the next frame, there were two figures, the taller one putting the other in a headlock, the shorter one miming a punch to his captor's stomach. Both were grinning. Immediately, he recognized his bodyguard, Akimoto Haru. He also had the feeling he had seen the taller redhead from somewhere… But again, his terrible excuse of memory was to blame.

The other frame held a magazine cutout of featuring a picture of five people; he thought he spied orange hair on one person…

Just when he was about to take a closer look, a hand put the frame face down. He looked up, and saw his executive protector standing there with a towel around his neck, looking like he had just washed his face. He had a black eye and a swollen lip; in short, he was in terrible shape. Had he done that?

"Haru…"

Walking over to the blinds and pushing them open (causing him to wince from the sudden brightness), Haru flatly said, "For the last time, it's Akimoto, young master." He then pretended to stop and think. "Oh wait. It's a Sunday, so technically, I'm not your executive protector today." The deceptively small man shot him a disdainful look. "So it's not 'young master,' it's asshole."

Crossing over to the refrigerator, Haru opened the fridge and took out a carton of milk. Taking a glass out of a cupboard, he said, "I've already called your Sunday executive protector, so do me a favor and leave asap. Today is the one day I don't need to see your face, and I've already lost several precious hours."

The manner his bodyguard spoke to him rankled him. He stubbornly sat down on one of the bar stools at the kitchen island and said, "If you're going to kick me out, at least give me some breakfast first."

Haru arched an eyebrow. "You're kidding yourself if you think I'm in the mood to feed you right now. Do you see the state of my body? Do you even remember what you did yesterday?" His face became ironic. "Or were you too stoned?"

His mouth tightened. He banged his fist on the table, and snarled, "You have no idea what I've been through!"

A humorless laugh was the response. "Oh really? You think – "

Someone interrupted Haru. "Oi, Ka – "

Seeing Haru's gaze shift from his face to over his shoulder, he turned back and saw the redhead from the picture standing behind him. He was topless (ripped) and apparently had just come out of the shower.

The redhead looked at him coolly. "You're up. Haru's principal, right?"

Stopping in the process of pouring out the milk, Haru examined the carton suspiciously. "Renji, did you drink straight from the milk carton again?"

"Yeah, so what?"

Haru scowled at the redhead, apparently named Renji. "How many times have I told you – !"

Renji retorted, "Oh, come on. You can handle a bit of my spit, can't you? After all – "

"Renji." Haru said in a warning voice. He could have sworn that his bodyguard's gaze had flickered in his direction for a moment.

The redhead rolled his eyes. "Alright, alright." There was a buzzing noise, and Renji gestured towards the countertop unnecessarily, "Hey, your cell."

Haru glanced down at her rather antiquated cell phone, and stared straight at him.

"Your Sunday Executive Protector is here. You can go now."

Quashing a resentful feeling he couldn't quite define, he reluctantly headed towards the apartment door, where his Sunday bodyguard undoubtedly awaited. He could just ditch his less attentive bodyguard later, he thought as he opened the door opened to the face of his Sunday bodyguard.

"Later, Haru." He closed the door before Haru could callously correct him once again.

Shoving his hands into his dirty pockets, he followed his bodyguard. He wouldn't ever call Haru by his surname. That would take away all the fun of poking fun at him.

…

_2 years ago_

…

Karin lugged the barely-conscious Renji up to their suite.

"…Why…are you…so…damn…heavy…?"

This was another pain of not being a guy. She couldn't carry guys her size… much less guys bigger than she, which unfortunately, was the case with her current baggage. Out of 'consideration' he had prevented her from getting drunk… but how was making her support him to their room with her bruised back any better?

With great relief, Karin mounted the 18th floor. Once she had dragged Renji over to the room, she temporarily leaned him against the wall to unlock the door. When he fell over before she could unlock the door, she hurriedly caught him. Clenching her teeth, she let Renji's dead weight lean on her while she opened the door with one hand.

Finally, the door opened and Karin heaved Renji into the suite. Sighing, she dumped him on his bed. She was in no mood to be gentle. Not with her back in this condition.

She was out like a light when she collapsed on her bed.

The next morning, Karin awoke to two brown eyes staring at her over the edge of the bed.

"Uaugh!" Karin threw up her sheets in surprise.

Standing up, Renji crossed his arms. "Good morning to you too." he said drily.

Pulling the sheets back over her, Karin yawned, "Wh-wh-why are you up so early…?" He was supposed to be hungover. Really hungover.

But Renji didn't look hungover at all when he glanced at the digital clock. "…Early…?" He looked back at her incredulously. "You call 2:45 PM early?"

Karin bolted up. "What? 2:45?"

Sitting down on her bed, Renji said, "Yeah. The guys are all waiting to slap you goodbye, and next time they see Ginjou, they'll punch the lights out of him for leaving without telling them."

Karin swung her legs off the bed. "So that bastard did leave at the crack of dawn."

Renji looked at her out of the corner of his eye. "He told you he was leaving?"

Rolling her eyes, Karin answered, "Oh, right. You were past your blackout point, so you don't remember the exchange. Well, I've said my farewells to him, even though I'm sure I'll see him again, as long as he's in Tokyo."

With a groan, Karin stood. "Well, let's go down to say g'bye."

When Karin finally arrived downstairs, the boys were on the verge of punching her for waking up so late.

"What were you doing all this while!"

"We were drunk and we got up earlier than you! What are you, a lightweight?"

"No, even if he is a lightweight, he can't be hungover from only 3 cans of beer!

Karin rolled her eyes and participated in their usual rowdy antics, for what they all knew would be the last time.

Clapping each of them on the back or shoulder, Karin grinned. "See you around. Keep in touch."

When the others made to slap her back, she hastily moved away. "Not my back. It's still bruised and hurts like hell."

They all burst out into laughter, and Karin watched them go one by one with a smile pasted on her face.

When Keigo, the last to leave, had waved goodbye and left, Karin lowered her hand, smile fading.

Renji put a comforting hand on her shoulder. "We'll see them again."

Karin continued to stare forward. "Yeah." she said absently. "I was just thinking, how we won't see the others everyday anymore. Won't take the same classes. Won't stay in the same building." Wouldn't have the same camaraderie.

It became obvious now that Karin was deliberately not looking at Renji. On the walk back to their rooms, Renji brewed over it, wondering why.

It was only when Renji looked at his open suitcase that it occurred to him that he had nowhere to stay. And as far as he knew, neither did Karin. Ikkaku's place was probably under surveillance.

Now that he had realized the predicament, Renji mentally slapped himself. Karin thought that even he was going to leave. Never come back.

He was, in fact, going to leave. He was, in fact, never coming back. But not alone; not if he could help it.

He crossed over to Karin's room. Upon reaching the mouth of the entrance, he saw her bent over on the edge of the bed, looking down at the pictures of her and Ikkaku again.

Karin didn't look up when she saw a shadow cast over the picture.

"Karin."

She merely listened to the warm bass tone of Renji's voice. This voice said, tentatively, "Karin… would you… like to live with me?"

At this, Karin lifted her face.

"Can we?" Renji's hopeful eyes met hers as he continued, "Live together, I mean?" Suddenly embarrassed, he scratched the back of his head. "I mean, to cut costs, and… other stuff."

Karin bit back a snort and raised an eyebrow. "To 'cut costs'? Is that all I am to you, Abarai? A bank? A wallet?"

At this, Renji scrunched up his face and said, "That came out all wrong."

"No kidding." Karin said sarcastically. "Tell you what. I'll give you one more chance." Sitting cross-legged, she looked at Renji expectantly.

"Karin, live with me."

Karin snorted out loud this time and looked away. "That sounds like an order. Try again."

Though dismayed, Renji finally said, "Kurosaki Karin, will you live with me? You're the love of my life and… I can't live without you."

When Karin's face remained hard, he looked down, crestfallen. He was surprised when a body pummeled into his with amazing speed. But it wasn't a body slam like the trainees had done so many times. He felt arms around his neck and a whisper that said, "Yes, yes, and yes times a million."

Karin pulled back from Renji and touched her forehead to his. "What took you so long to say that, dummy? It wasn't so hard, was it?"

"I thought you knew already."

"You've started to take me for granted, Abarai."

"Never."

"I'll start taking you for granted, then."

"That's okay. As long as we stay together."

"That was a joke, Renji. I would never take you for granted."

"You realize that we're going to live in a dinky and super-small apartment."

"I don't mind the super small part. But not dinky if I can help it."

…

When they were finally leaving The Academy, Karin turned and looked back. It held a torrent of memories; having learnt different combat styles, how to use both traditional weapons and firearms, having learnt under Tsukabishi Tessai, Tousen Kaname, Muguruma Kensei… and Gin… all the hurdles she had passed, all the fun times… and having met Renji.

While Karin looked up at the complex, Renji, on the other hand, gazed at her. He knew that the light of his life had come to him in his 2nd year, and he had only realized it in the summer of his 3rd year. He would never forgive himself for punching her… but he knew, when Karin gave him a dazzling smile, that on her part, all was forgiven and forgotten. She skipped ahead and called to him, "Let's go, Renji."

Renji grinned and trotted to catch up with her. "Aye aye, captain."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You may have noticed that I wrote from the Principal's POV twice in a row. And there is a reason for that! Tune in for chapter 16 to find out! Or will it be chapter 16...? ¬_¬ Haha, it's not that big of a deal. It's just a minor(?) hash tag for the story.


	16. Part II Mission 1

Disclaimer: Bleach belongs to Kubo Tite.

…

 **The Bodyguard Part II**  
Mission 1

…

_"I won't – no, I can't – allow you to leave. Not on my life."  
– The Principal_

…

_2 years ago_

…

Once they had left The Academy for good, they found a hostel to stay at while they were out and about apartment hunting; the apartment they found was on the small side, but they liked it: it had a good view.

"You do know we're going to be evicted if our jobs don't give us a big enough salary to pay the monthly rent, don't you?" Karin pointed out as they signed the lease. She had perfected 'Akimoto Haru's' signature.

"Don't be such a downer. We are going to get high-paying jobs. We graduated from The Academy. There are plenty of other combat and bodyguard academies, but all the gunhead magazines list The Academy as the number one training academy for the past 20-something years." Renji too, scribbled his signature on the lease. "And we have the prize money."

Though Karin had to concede this fact, she still frowned. "I still think you should go to college. You can get a loan." After a moment of silence, she added, "Besides, Ikkaku left all his money to 'Akimoto Haru.'"

Renji avoided the topic of his going to college by saying, "C'mon, let's go furniture shopping."

Much to Karin's surprise, Renji's taste was for bright, cushy furniture.

"You want… this?" Karin asked flatly, pointing at an electric-blue bean-bag chair.

"No. I want that." Renji pointed to a bean-bag sofa-couch.

Looking at the couch's price tag of 46,000 yen (≈US $600) Karin sighed. "Let's settle for the bean bag chair, Abarai."

Then his choice was a circular swing bed, and Karin sighed again. Bright, and expensive. 'Was he really raised at an orphanage? From his taste, you'd think he'd come from a filthy rich family.' Even she hadn't had this back when she had lived in the mansion.

"Negative. That won't fit in our apartment, for one. And don't get me started on the other reasons."

"It'll fit." Renji protested.

Karin snorted. "Yeah, and let it take up all the living space? Not a chance. Let's just sleep on a futon for now."

Renji pouted. "What fun is a futon?"

Waving his complaints aside, Karin said flippantly, "Yes, yes. It's no fun, but we have to be economical here. We can get the "round floating bed" or what ever it is once we earn enough to move into a bigger apartment. If we can."

"But the bed is the most important piece of furniture of them all!" Renji exclaimed.

Karin glared at him. "I'll pretend I didn't her that double entendre."

In the end, despite Renji's protests, they got a black sofa bed. "It's convertible into both a sofa and a bed. Two birds with one stone." Karin stubbornly said.

So they settled in the apartment that was crammed with several pieces of bright furniture, much to Karin's displeasure.

They sent in their new address to The Academy, and waited, twiddling their thumbs and sparring each other in the exercise room, and occasionally in the park.

In mid-May, in the park that they were sparring at, Karin was cornering Renji, in a one-sided fight.

"Why–" A right hook. "– are you going–" An uppercut. "– easy on me?" Karin growled.

Abruptly, Renji's guard dropped and Karin landed an extremely hard blow. As Renji struggled to hide his pain, Karin sprang out of her stance and hurried over to him.

"Renji! Why didn't you block – "

Renji couldn't hide a grimace as he held his midsection. With an effort, Karin hid her concern and straightened, putting her hands on her hips. "Serves you right, Abarai. Now answer my question, why were you going easy on me?"

Renji too, straightened, keeping a hand on his abdomen. "This is why." Karin stopped and looked at him. "Even when I get hurt, you're like this. How could I even attempt to hurt you? You'll get plenty of practice one you're hired, no?" He grinned ruefully as he took her by her elbow and pulled her close.

But Karin resisted. "People will see us."

"So? I don't care."

They gave up sparring that day. As they passed their mailbox – they ritually checked it every day – they saw there were exactly 2 envelopes.

They glanced at each other, not daring to hope.

A letter for each of them.

After turning them both over to see whom they were addressed to, Renji whooped, and Karin realized that offers had come. She thought she glimpsed a familiar crest on one of the envelopes.

Too impatient to wait for the elevator to arrive, they dashed up the stairs.

Banging their apartment door open, Renji ripped open the envelopes. He hurriedly pushed one envelope into Karin's hand.

She flipped it over; sure enough, there was a circle of what was supposed to be the nozzle of a gun, with décor all around it. The crest of Ammo Co. She sighed. 'What vendetta does irony have against me?'

Nevertheless, she opened the envelope and skimmed through it.

To The Academy graduate Akimoto Haru:  
Though we have taken into account your lack of experience and young age, due to the outstanding marks you have attained and your early graduation from The Academy, one of the most prestigious training schools in the industry, along with a strong recommendation, we find you an appropriate addition to The Force of Ammo Co. If indeed you find this offer -

Karin snorted. If Gin was part of the recommendation team, he was playing some joke on her and laughing at her somewhere back at The Academy. Running a hand through her hair, she read on.

If indeed you find this offer desirable, we encourage you to contact us as soon as possible; your employment is guaranteed.  
Hoping to hear good news,  
– Ammo Co.

"Ammo Co?" Renji, who was looking over Karin's shoulder, read aloud as he saw the employing company.

All of a sudden, dread hit Karin like a bucket of ice water had been dumped on her. "Old Beardy keeps such close tabs on Ammo Co., I wouldn't be surprised if he found me within the week. No, a day. Why don't they just send me to Kurosaki Armament and get it over with…" Karin tossed the letter towards the bed, where it separated into two pages and fluttered to the ground, just falling short. Despite the dread, Karin managed to keep her voice light. "Where'd your offer come from? Don't tell me it's from Armament?" She made it sound like a joke, even though it would be disastrous if that were the case.

Renji let out a snort of laughter. "Now that would be ironic. Sorry to disappoint, but I got Kurotsuchi Labs. And the pay is hefty too." He grinned at her smugly. "So we won't starve to death, or be evicted."

It was only then that Karin bent over and noticed the second piece of paper that had fallen short of the bed. She picked it up, her blue eyes scanning it quickly; when she had finished, she groaned and plopped down on the bed.

Renji took the paper from her and looked at it curiously. "'Monthly Salary… to be assigned'?" He read aloud. "'Ranging anywhere from 2,000,000¥ to 6,000,000¥…?" He raised his eyebrows. "Dang. That's a wide range." He gave the paper back to Karin, who took it and shoved it back into the envelope. "You gonna take the job?" He asked, worried.

Tossing the envelope aside, Karin said, "Yeah. It's the only offer I got after all." After a pause, she said, "But I honestly don't know whether I want to or not. I mean, Ammo Co is supposed to be Armament's rival company." She shrugged. "But I couldn't care less about the rivalry. It's just the variable of Ol' Beardy finding out or not." She ran a hand through her once again longish hair. "But I'll have to take the chance, if I ever want to be a bodyguard."

Renji stared at her through half lidded eyes. "Do you really have to? I mean, it looks like I'll be earning enough money for the two of us – " When she glared at him, he held up his hands in defense. "Just a suggestion. Why do you want to become a bodyguard?"

"I thought I told you." Karin said grumpily, and the fact that her bangs now flopped into her hair didn't help her temper.

"I remember you telling me, but not the contents. All I remember was seeing red back then."

Karin sighed, irritated. "Long story short, I was always in the spotlight and I wanted out. A bodyguard is a job with the highest action and the lowest profile. I became a guy to throw Ol' Beardy off the scent. There. Happy?"

Renji commented, "He must've been really oppressive, huh?"

"I wouldn't be surprised if he was the one who opposed to you staying with us and sent you off to that orphanage." Karin said bitterly. "No one else who would do that, really."

Karin returned to brooding about the dangers of taking the job. She had changed appearances enough over the past two years, she reasoned. People wouldn't recognize her from her profile, and certainly not from behind. Maybe they'd see a faint resemblance from head on, but not enough to recognize her as Kurosaki Karin. But that did not stand for her family. She would have to go to further lengths than that to throw off her family. Maybe draw on a large black 'birthmark' on her face. Or go to the lengths of "growing" a beard.

She snorted at both those thoughts. She'd just wear sunglasses; the stereotypical get up for a bodyguard. Suit and sunglasses. And shiny shoes.

Sunglasses and short hair should be enough, Karin assured herself.

So the next day, she and Renji sent off letters accepting the job offers, and then went shopping for sunglasses.

"Well, at least you don't have to wear those damn contacts anymore." Renji said, as he absently tried on aviators. "How does this look on me?"

Karin rolled her eyes. "I still need those contacts. It would be weird to wear sunglasses indoors. And those look really stupid on you. Try these." She traded the aviators he had on for racers.

After 2 hours of Renji waffling in between two sunglasses until Karin had 'gently suggested' ("just choose this one, you idiot!") him one, Renji bought the cyclops-line sunglasses and Karin settled for racing sunglasses.

Immediately putting his sunglasses on as they walked out of the store, Renji looked around. His eyes fell upon the glass case that showcased mannequins donned with designer suits. "Should we go shopping for suits?"

Immediately disliking the idea of spending even more time shopping, Karin dismissed the idea immediately. "No. We don't even know the companies' the issued dress codes are yet." She pushed him along away from the store with the Armani logo printed largely on them.

"Don't even think about it. We can't afford them." Karin hissed, pushing him away from the store showcase.

Giving one last longing look towards the suits, Renji corrected, "Not yet, anyways."

The next day, Renji was called (or rather, summoned) by Kurotsuchi Labs. "See, we should have bought suits!" He groused.

"Quit whining. We can just wear our uniforms. That's should be the best way to emphasize your faithfulness to The Academy." Karin heard Renji grumble something along the lines of 'what faithfulness' but she pretended not to hear.

After Renji had gotten ready, Karin practically kicked him out the door. "Make sure you get the job!" she called out to him.

"And you make sure to remember that our jobs are guaranteed!" Renji shouted back.

Once Karin shut the door, she went back to bed and buried herself under the covers; and it wasn't because she was sleepy.

To be recruited by Ammo Co.… Renji didn't know the extent of her nervousness, and Karin thought it best to stay that way.

Karin exhaled deeply.

It was a stifling house party. 'House party' used in the loosest sense. There were at least 300 people. Karin gazed resentfully down at the sea of black hair from the balcony. She had long given up looking for the spark of orange and brown hair.

'Where are my siblings when you need them…' Karin thought irritably, slouching over the balcony railing. She absently adjusted the strap on her red cocktail designer dress tailored specifically for her 12-year-old body. Suddenly, she felt a hand on her shoulder. It was a familiar hand, yet a hand that she hadn't felt since she had been 5. Fighting back the urge to swat it away, she settled for the lesser sin and sneered, "Why aren't you mingling with the sycophants? Beardy." In any other tone of voice, 'beardy' could have been construed as a term of affection. But the way Karin spat it out left no room for question.

The hand released her shoulder. Sternly, Isshin said, "Look at your father when you talk, Karin."

Reluctantly, Karin turned around. Crossing her arms and setting her jaw, she repeated her question. "So why are you up here?"

Isshin sighed. "Do I need a reason?"

Eying him, Karin said. "You never do things without a reason."

His only response was to come next to her and look over the balcony. As Karin stiffened, he remarked, "Looking over the balcony makes you feel like everybody is insignificant, I see."

"You say it like you don't usually think they're insignificant." Karin fought back the snarl in her voice.

"I don't. I just think that they're less consequential. They don't carry as large responsibilities; they have more time to spend for idle activities." Isshin shrugged.

Raising an eyebrow, Karin ironically repeated, "Idle activities." Both Karin's face and voice hardened. "You mean time to spend with their families."

Crossing his arms, Isshin replied, "Yes. If I were of less consequence, I would spend more time with my family as well. So I admit I also view them with jealousy."

The way he said 'my family' like he wasn't talking to one of 'his family' members stabbed at Karin's heart like a knife. Forcing the hurt to become anger, she said acidly, "Yeah. But you're too busy trying to get your company ahead." She smirked as she thought up a blow. "Ahead of Ammo Co., right?"

He turned and walked away from her. "Well, at least you understand."

Karin stood staring after her father. Belatedly, she ran after him, "Wait! Beardy! Oyaji!"  
He was too far ahead, and turned into a dark corridor. She dashed after him, but turned an ankle because she wore high heels. Using a swear word that a 12-year old shouldn't know, she threw aside her shoes and skidded down the same corridor that Isshin had gone down.

But upon arrival, there was no one there.

"Oyaji?"

Her voice echoed down the hallway, when she heard a voice.

"Will you answer me this time? Who was it?" It was Isshin's voice.

Karin whipped her head around, searching for the source of her father's voice. It was all whitewashed wall, but she could still faintly hear his voice.

"Oya-"

But the next voice she heard was not Isshin's. "Why are you asking me…" It sounded almost like he was sobbing. "I don't know anything about your wife! Why would a company go out of its way to kill – "

The new voice was cut short by a strangled grunt. Karin's hand clamped over her mouth as the pieces clicked together. Was that why her father was so obsessed with bringing down Ammo Co.? Because he bizarrely thought that Ammo Co. was the culprit?

But that couldn't be. Her mother had thought there were no cars nearby and J-walked, simple as that.

"I'm watching you and your company." Isshin snarled. "Nobody, not even a new employee will escape my notice – "

Karin had heard enough; she turned away and ran back up the stairs before Isshin found out that she had overheard the 'conversation'. She only slowed down once she was out of the vicinity.

Her father had gone insane with hate.

So it was with a mix of horror, confusion, anger, pity, not to mention resentment that Karin went to her refuge: the soccer field.

After some 10 minutes of kicking the ball to physically warm up while inversely cooling her head down, Karin started to practice in earnest, mind just settling into the comfortable blankness. No need to dwell on what she had heard before; no need to think at all. But the stabbing pain in her ankle was a reminder of what she had found out that day.

Tired and sweaty, Karin lay down on the grass, looking up at the stars, trying to identify the constellations.

"There's Pisces… Cygnus… Saggitarius…" she murmured, pointed an index finger up and tracing the outlines before a shadow loomed above her.

"Don't forget Hercules."

Abruptly, Karin sat up. "Ichi-nii… How did you – "

Ichigo looked slightly amused. "Yuzu and I looked for you, and after we had scoured the mansion for hours with no luck, I supposed that you'd be out here." Sitting down next to her, he remarked, "You look much more like yourself now."

Karin realized that she must look like a mess, with her red dress damp and with all the mud and grass.

"Is something wrong?"

She paused, considering spilling the beans to him. Ichigo would know what to do, wouldn't he? If he knew… seeing him look expectantly at her, Karin belatedly replied, "Nothing. Nothing's wrong." She ran her fingers through her long hair, escaped from its neat bun that the stylist had painstakingly pulled her unruly hair into.

"Sure, whatever you say." His tone of voice was more sardonic than usual, and that defeated Karin. But she didn't want to burden him with things best left unknown. So biting her lip, she settled for the half-truth.

"It's Old Beardy. He's just so… obsessed. With… with the…" She trailed off, unable to find the right words without revealing too much.

"The rivalry. Between Ammo Co." Ichigo finished for her. After a moment of silence, he said, "I know what you're talking about. I don't know when it started, but it's been so long since – "

"Since he spent time with us." Karin, in turn, finished for him. Resting her chin on her knees, she confessed, "I would be less resentful if he gave us the freedom do what we wanted, at least. But he's having our every move watched. It's like having big, burly nannies. I mean, we're not going to go out and do drugs, or anything."

Ichigo snorted at that. "You'd be surprised… Not Yuzu, but face it, you and I…"

Karin plowed on, his comment unnoticed, "He should let us take a breather. And not make us have to sneak around to do what we want. He's been like this for as long as I remember." She was now venting, thoughts far from the earlier 'event'.

Ichigo flopped back on the grass, following Karin's example to not give a care about his suit. "Well, I wouldn't know. I had mom longer than you guys did, so I know that Pops wasn't always this oppressive." He was silent for a while. "Come to think of it, it was after mom died that he changed."

Karin put the heels of her hands to her forehead as she emerged from the memory. There it was again. The death of her mother had affected her father so much. But what did Ammo Co. have to do with it?

Later, Renji came back wearing a white suit. It looked quite good on him, but Karin wondered, "Why white?"

Renji pulled at his necktie, loosening it, but tightening the knot in the process. "It's called 'Kurotsuchi Labs', so apparently we're supposed to match the white lab coats by wearing white. To blend in." He put quotation marks around the 'blend in' part. He tugged at his necktie again, further tightening the knot. "Damn thing…"

Smothering a laugh, Karin went up and loosened the tie for him. "You should learn how to do this on your own."

When she felt his breath on her face, she looked up; for the first time, she realized how close they were. They had slept on the same bed for a long time back from The Academy, but they hadn't been intimate ever since the day of the final exam. They had exchanged kisses, but nothing more.

Flushing, she withdrew, only to have Renji catch her by the elbow.

"Why are you going?" He drew closer, so they were almost chest to chest. "Are you that uncomfortable being around me?"

Though 'shy' was not usually used to describe her, Karin was unable to meet Renji in the eyes.

"Of course not…" She murmured.

A hint of panic bled into Renji's voice. "Are you regretting that you came to live with me?"

At this, all previous uncharacteristic shyness Karin felt abruptly was replaced by the more characteristic annoyance. Hands on hips, she raised her head to look Renji right in the eye, indignant. "Read my lips. Abarai Renji. I do not regret having chosen to live with you. I do not regret this moment. At all. I do not regret the past. I do not regret anything. Do you follow me?" She grabbed the base of the tie that still hung round Renji's neck and yanked his lips to hers.

Despite feeling rather strangled by the necktie now tight again, Renji put his arms around Karin and kissed back.

When Karin pulled back, she pulled off his necktie completely; she had barely gotten the tie off of him when Renji kissed her fiercely again. Wrapping her arms around Renji's neck she pulled back to whisper, "We shouldn't… should we…?"

Renji's only answer was to kiss her again.

The next morning they lounged around in bed.

Lying on her stomach, Karin absently traced patterns on Renji's chest. "Don't you have to go to work today?"

Renji shook his head. "I start work next week." Propping himself up by his elbows, his face became close to Karin's again. "Which means we're free to play…"

Pushing his face back with a hand, Karin shot down the suggestive idea. "No. I'm still sore from yesterday."

Raising an eyebrow, Renji replied, "That's not what you said yesterday."

Keeping a straight face, Karin retorted, "I don't recall saying anything."

Smiling slyly, Renji put an arm around her waist and pulled her close. "I'll just settle for cuddling, then."

Laughing, Karin began to comply when the phone rang. Ignoring Renji's protests regarding the cold, Karin pulled the sheets around her and waded over to the phone, picking it up just in time after the third ring.

"Hello?"

A man answered. "Good morning. Is this Akimoto-san's residence?"

"Speaking. And this is…?"

Belatedly, Karin realized that 9.9 out of 10, the call was from the company that had offered to hire her. She berated herself for answering the phone so late. But the man didn't seem to mind because he continued, "This is from Ammo Co. Are you available today for an interview? The interview is perfunctory, of course. You are guaranteed a position here."

After a pause, Karin firmed her resolve and said, "Yes. What time should I go?"

"Your appointment is at 1 PM. You can enter through the staff door, to the left of the main entrance."

"Alright." Karin affirmed, and heard the click of a phone disconnection. Putting the phone back down, she threw the sheets down and began to get ready, digging out clothes and her corset, pulling them on. Renji frowned and stood up.

"Are you sure about this?"

Karin paused for a fraction of a second, remembering the house party that had taken place years ago. Then she unfroze herself and resumed zipping up her uniform. "Of course I am. I was sure the moment I sent off the letter." She lied.

Though Renji looked unconvinced, he said nothing as he stared after her when she left, 45 minutes to 1 PM.

Karin walked briskly to the subway and before she knew it, she was standing in front of Ammo Co.'s building. The main entrance was huge. Karin's eyes flickered over the large building; it was familiar to her. And in less than pleasant circumstances, no less. Though she shared little to no enmity with Ammo Co., every experience that she'd had with the building was nowhere near positive.

It was in front of this building they had found her mother's body.

"Mom?" She hadn't known what was going on back then. "Why won't she wake up?" That was back when she and Yuzu were four years old. "Why's she in such a weird position?" Karin had said, with Yuzu chiming in, "Isn't it uncomfortable?" They'd been confused as to why their mother's body looked bent and broken after they had discovered her body after it had been hit by a car.

The way Isshin had roughly grabbed her hand when they were walking past the building. "Let… go! You're hurting me!" She had been 7 back then. Young as she was, no matter how hard she tried, she hadn't been able shake off her father's grip.

Another time, when Ichigo had promised to buy her something tasty, people who had been secretly guarding Ichigo sprang out when they had walked past the building. "Why can't you just leave me alone!" Ichigo had shouted at the bodyguards. "Ammo Co. is not going to attack me or Karin!"

Years later, Karin recalled echoing those same words, except to Isshin directly. "Why can't you just leave me alone?"

Now standing before the building disguised as a man, Karin grimly resolved that it wouldn't be the same. She was Akimoto Haru now. Not Kurosaki Karin. Reassuring herself that everything would be all right, she turned her attention to the significantly smaller door next to it, to what seemed to be the staff entrance.

In what seemed like all of a second, Karin stood in front of the door. Taking a deep breath, Karin turned the doorknob and was met with a pair of large green eyes. Taken aback, she stumbled back. Then her eyes were drawn like magnets to a v-neck that showed lots of cleavage. Karin's eyes widened.

"You can stop staring at my chest now, newbie." A rough voice said wryly. Karin's eyes snapped back to the face of the woman. From further away, she could see that the woman had bandages wrapped around her messy hair. Was she injured?

"Err, um. This. Uh…"

The woman looked at Karin disdainfully. "Awfully coherent, aren't you?" she said sarcastically. She turned her back on Karin. "Follow me, O Coherent One."

Karin had the distinct feeling that 'coherent' would be her an integral part of her new nickname from then on as she nervously followed the woman.

They trooped down a long flight of stairs and finally arrived at a room.

With a man lounging at a table inside the small space, it looked suspiciously like an interrogation room. Karin stared at it warily before the woman impatiently beckoned for her to enter.

Tightening the corners of her lips, Karin walked in. First thing she noticed besides the man sitting at the table was the door behind him. It was cleverly disguised, but it didn't quite escape her eye.

Her eyes flickered briefly to the camouflaged door before they settled on the man. The man motioned for her to sit down on the chair across from him. Once she had sat down and looked at the man properly, Karin thought for a moment that he reminded her of her older brother. This impression was only strengthened when he grinned.

He declared, "Welcome to the team of bodyguar – " hastily clearing his throat, he corrected himself, "–ehem, excuse me, executive protectors, of Ammo Co., otherwise called The Force."  
Judging from his voice, he was the one who had called her. He looked much more relaxed than she had envisioned from over the phone. He was in casual clothes, for one. However, Karin sat stick straight and made no reply.

"Stiff one, aren't you? Not anything like what I heard from my brother. Remind me to clobber him once."

At this, Karin blurted out, "Brother?"

"I assume you know my brother, yeah?" The man's grin widened at her astonishment. "Name's Shiba Kaien."

Shiba. Shiba Kaien. Shiba Ganju. Karin lost the battle not to have her mouth drop open. "Y-you're Ganju's older brother?"

Kaien's smug smile was answer enough. "Now that's more like it. I suppose that your stiffness is a result from a tense atmosphere. No need. You only have to take a test so we can decide how much to pay you." He smirked.

He turned and called, "Oi, Kuukaku!"

The door banged open and the woman who had led Karin to the room irately said, "Nii… I mean, Officer, how many times have I told you not to call me with such so familiarity - !"  
Kaien waved her protests aside. "Now now, *Imouto-chan, I just need you to test Haru – I can call you Haru, right? – here. I'm trusting you~" He gave Kuukaku a thumbs up, accompanied by a wide grin.

[*imouto: younger sister in Japanese]

As Karin gave him a questioning look, Kaien stood up and brushing off the invisible dust from his jeans and jerked his head to the door.

'So that's where the door leads to.' Karin thought.

Irritably, Kuukaku stalked past both of them and yanked the door open. Karin followed her in, stepping from smooth cold floor onto dirt and dust. Again, Karin lost the battle in refraining to allow her jaw to drop; the room seemed to stretch on endlessly. It looked barren, but it was ideal for training. (AN: ¬_¬ yeah, I based it off of Urahara's training room)  
"Should I change your name from Coherent Boy to Gaping Boy?" snarled Kuukaku.  
Karin turned her focus back onto her.

"Psst. You have to fight her." Kaien said to her in a stage whisper.

As if on cue, Kuukaku ripped off her jacket to show an even more revealing sleeveless shirt.

This time, Karin's eyes focused not on her breasts but on Kuukaku's arms. One was quite muscular. But the other was wooden.

By the time Karin recovered from the shock of a wooden arm, Kuukaku was already in front of her. Karin grunted as she felt a punch to her gut.

Karin grimaced. However, she hadn't lasted for two years among the boys for nothing.

As Kuukaku swung her body round for a kick, Karin hastily leapt away.

Though she panicked at the idea of fighting and potentially injuring a fellow woman, it seemed she had her hands full to avoid the attacks. It took all she had to defend herself while holding back.

This woman was strong, especially for a person with a wooden arm. If her body was whole, she could give Ganju a run for his money. Heck, even as she was, she seemed stronger than Ganju.

But no matter how strong Kuukaku was, Karin couldn't bring herself to counterattack, much less attack. All she did was defend.

Kuukaku seemed to have realized this.

"Going to play the gentleman, are you?" Her strikes became faster and stronger.

Instinctively, when a fist came flying towards her face, Karin gripped it just before it landed and twisted the arm connected to it, and it emitted a cracking sound.

Realizing too late that she had used an aikido move on a woman, Karin let go in horror. In that brief opening, Kuukaku had that same hand around Karin's neck.

"It's settled. I'll call you Scaredy Cat. One cracking sound and you back off like a cat chased by a dog."

She squeezed, digging her fingers into Karin's neck – none too gently – before letting go. Karin stumbled back, barely refraining from massaging her neck. Kuukaku shoved past her as she went back to her brother.

Kaien said sternly, "Haru. On the field, it won't matter whether you're facing a woman or not, you can't hold back. No matter what, you have to protect the principal." He shrugged. "Chivalry died the moment you stepped foot into this industry."

He was right, Karin realized. There were women assassins as well, whom she would have to hurt in order to protect her principal. She sighed.

Kaien stroked his chin thoughtfully. "Hm. You seem stronger than Kuukaku here…" he ignored Kuukaku's muffled sound of outrage. "But you hesitated to attack her." Kaien mused. "I'll rank you a B."

Karin tried to rearrange what she knew was a puzzled look on her face to a stoic one, but Kaien had caught sight of it anyway. He grinned. "We feed you rankings here. This is the preliminary ranking test to see where you start out. The ranks start from D, C, B, A, and S." He ticked off his fingers. After a moment, he seemed to remember something. "Oh, and X. Though only a handful of executive protectors – the ones who protect high executives – are ranked X."

Perfectionist she was, Karin was annoyed that she had received four ranks below the highest, due to her 'chivalry.' But 'B' was a pretty good place to start, Karin told herself. She listened as Kaien spoke again.

"Every time you show prowess on field, you have a chance to get promoted." His grin became sneaky and he hooked an arm round her neck. "And now, the most important thing for us being…" He rubbed the tips of his fingers together. "The pay roll."

He wheeled Karin back into what Karin now referred to as the 'interrogation room' and walked her up the stairs. "Well, it's more of a salary, actually, because it's consistent. 400,000¥ is what B ranking executive protectors get here."

Looking over at Kaien's grinning face, which reminded her unnervingly of her brother's, Karin nodded mutely.

In no time, she had been led to an enormous artillery room – more like a warehouse – stocked with every kind of weapon – produced by Ammo Co., of course – imaginable. Karin had thought she'd never see such a supply other after The Academy. Releasing her, Kaien walked over to a section labeled 'Class B.' The shelves stacked up as high as the ceiling and were so deep that asides from glinting black that Karin assumed were from weapons, she was unable to see what they held.

Out of one of the numerous shelves, he took out what Karin recognized as an Ammo Co. Steadfast. He tossed the handgun over to Karin, who caught it deftly.

"Technically," Kaien said as he rummaged through a different shelf, "Regulation state that I'm supposed to hand you that directly, but who cares about regulations anyways?"

Karin suppressed a smile. He was a bit more outspoken than her brother, but they had the same philosophy.

He next tossed her a stun gun, a set of knives, and a belt to stash them all.

But when he began to search for a particular package, Kaien began to frown. Tossing the packages aside, he actually shoved his upper torso into the shelf. "Too big, too big…" Karin heard faintly. In a muffled voice, he called out, "What's size do you wear?"

Automatically, Karin replied, "Small for top and medium for pants."

Kaien abruptly pulled himself out of the shelf. "We don't carry small for the tops… And you're definitely not a medium for the bottom. Your waist and legs are too thin for that."  
He cocked his head questioningly, staring at Karin.

"You're awfully short for a kid that graduated from The Academy. How old are you?"

Karin barely kept from flushing. "16, sir."

Kaien nodded sagely. "Ah, right, you graduated early. I should've known that. I was expecting you to be at least 17…" He added, "And none of that 'sir' stuff. I don't like stuffy formalities. It makes me feel old." With renewed vigor, Kaien examined a different shelf.  
"Sorry Haru, but I'm going to have to give you a woman's size."

That statement caught Karin completely off-guard and she forgot to be polite.

"Wait. What?"

"Uniforms."

Karin winced. Not noticing this, Kaien plowed on. "We give our bodyguards their uniforms, because it's just that. Uniforms. Even though every rank has a tie with a different color stripe, the outer suit is just the same."

He looked among several sizes of woman's sizes, muttering that some of them were too small and too short, and eventually pulled out 4 packages.

"Here you go. Shirt, jacket, and pants. These'll be only temporary, I promise. You only have to put up with it until we get your exact measurements." He motioned towards the smallest package. "Not the tie though. That'll last until you're promoted, I'm afraid." He flashed her a grin.

On the fourth shelf, Kaien pulled out several gadgets.

Handing her the gadgets, he explained what each was. " – this is the card which gives you access to all the areas B-ranked officers need to go, this is your work phone… and this," he easily picked up what seemed like a thin black notebook. " – is the laptop that we issue to all of our staff."

The laptop was heavier than it looked, and with so many things to hold, Karin was practically juggling the items.

As she stuffed the card and the phone into her pockets and adjusted the packages, Kaien looked around. "Am I missing something?" Apparently he wasn't, as he continued, "Sorry we're so oldschool. Other companies would have a computer give and explain all these to you." He said apologetically. "But this way, we get to know each other more." He smiled. "So don't be so stiff. We're all family here."

At the single word 'family,' Karin felt a warmth, one that she hadn't felt for so long, spread inside of her. And for the first time at the 'interview,' she smiled, and Kaien grinned back. "That's the ticket. Ganju told me that you were hard to please, but I guess I've succeeded, eh?"

Karin laughed. "Ganju said that? I must've been a real ass – I mean, stiff, back at The Academy then."

Kaien waved off her statement. "Naw, he just really respected you and your skills." He looked like he was suppressing another smile. "Even if you're younger than him."

He clapped Karin on the shoulder, nearly causing Karin to lose balance from all the packages in her arms. "Leave the stuff here. Let me show you the ropes around here."

Karin hadn't forgotten how large the headquarters for companies were, but was amazed all the same; Ammo Co. was quite different from the interior of Armament.

Kaien walked her over to a small blonde turning over a gun clip in her hands.

"What's up, Menoly?" As Menoly looked up, Karin saw that she was a young lady, with her bangs swept to one side. "Meet our new recruit here." Kaien introduced them to each other. "Menoly, Haru Akimoto. Haru, Menoly Mallia." He leaned over to Karin conspiratorially and said, "She checks the clips for flaws before we release them into the market."

At this, Menoly blushed and returned to running her fingers carefully over the gun clips before depositing them into a bin.

Up close, Karin saw that Menoly's bangs covered an eyepatch over her right eye.

For a moment, Karin was taken aback. Her father would never risk using disabled people to work in his company. If someone working at the company had suffered a crippling injury, he would have given them a pension and let them go.

Seeming to read her thoughts, as they walked away, Kaien told her quietly, "Menoly used to work out on the field when she lost her eye. The overseeing officer wanted to let her go, but the head of the company gave her a job at the assembly line instead."

Karin was silent. From time to time, she saw other cripples who had lost their legs, arms and other appendages hard at work checking and making sure the items were whole and okay. And her father thought that the man who generously gave jobs to these disabled people had killed her mother?

Next she was led to a bearded man lounging a desk with his feet squishing the papers in front of him.

Kaien raised a hand. "Oi~ Kotsubaki!"

The man's feet leapt from the desk to the floor as he saluted Kaien.

"Officer!"

Kaien waved him off. "How many times do I have to tell you to drop the formalities, it's enough that Kuukaku calls me officer already. Haru, Kotsubaki Sentarou. Kotsubaki, Akimoto Haru."

By then Kaien had introduced her to so many people that Karin had trouble fixing faces to names, so she merely nodded and murmured a vague greeting.

"Now that all the formalities are over. I want you to take this lad," Kaien motioned towards Karin, " – and go through the usual process."

Karin didn't even have time to blink before the scruffy man whisked her off. She found herself being measured.

When Sentarou began to measure her chest, Karin fidgeted. Sentarou barked, "Don't move!"

With an effort, Karin straightened her back and ceased fidgeting. After scribbling her measurements and muttering something about strange proportions, Sentarou next sat her down and snapped a picture of her.

Still blinking the flash from her eyes, Karin was deposited beside Kaien once more.

Kaien commented, "As efficient as ever, that Kotsubaki."

Later, Karin wrinkled her nose down at the picture ID that Sentarou had given her. In her opinion, she looked terrible, but at least nobody – save for select people – would recognize her.

When Kaien had shown her where 'The Force' gathered each morning, Karin asked, "Just what exactly does The Force do? Protect the building?"

Edges of lips tugging up, Kaien said mysteriously, "You'll see when you report tomorrow."

Karin got a bad feeling at this.

…

Character Profile  
Name: Shiba Kaien  
Age: 27 years  
Height: 6'/183 cm (fully grown)  
Birthday: October 27  
Favorite food: Fish (specifically salmon)  
Least favorite food: Greasy chips  
Favorite sport: Surfing

Name: Shiba Kuukaku  
Age: 23 years  
Height: 5'6"/168cm  
Birthday: October 1  
Favorite food: Shrimp  
Least favorite food: Greasy bok choy  
Favorite sport: Beach volleyball

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yes. There is no preview this time around. Just a quote. The time draws near. :D For what, you ask? If you haven't already guessed, you'll see.


	17. The Bodyguard Part II Mission 2

Disclaimer: Bleach belongs to Kubo Tite.

…

 **The Bodyguard Part II**  
Mission 2

…

_"Don't. Call. Me. Young. Master." – The Principal_

_…_

_2 years ago_

…

Per Kaien's instructions, Karin put on the uniform that fit her frame far too well for her (mental) comfort and reported to Ammo Co.'s staff room 5 minutes before 5:00 AM. That morning, it had been a chore to get out of bed, as it was two hours earlier than she had gotten used to since leaving The Academy. She'd gotten soft.

Karin adjusted her tie with a single pale green stripe across it, more nervous than she cared to admit as she swiped her ID and stepped into the room.  
Karin looked around. The room was empty save for two men, both with shaggy black hair.

Soon enough, they noticed her, the taller of the two glancing at her briefly and apathetically, the other staring with timid interest. Karin returned his curious gaze. The shorter of the two glanced apprehensively at the taller man, and when he didn't respond, he cautiously approached her.

Bowing deeply, he said, "Pleased to meet you. My name is Yamada Hanatarou…"

Taken aback by an adult – albeit one shorter than she, he looked about 5 feet tall – bowing to her, Karin said hastily, "You don't need to be so polite, I'm your junior."

He looked up and Karin held out a hand and said, "I'm Akimoto Haru. You can just call me Haru, Yamada-san."

Hesitantly shaking her hand, Hanatarou smiled sheepishly. "Just Hanatarou for me too." Karin's eyes wandered down to his necktie. _'Green stripe. Same rank as me.'_ Oblivious to her scrutiny, Hanatarou continued, "You'll probably want to save the title once you meet my older brother."

Karin snapped back up to his face. "…Your older brother?"

Hanatarou glanced over his shoulder towards the taller man. "He's my older brother. Seinosuke onii-san."  
Karin approached him, and once she stood in front of him, saw that his height was similar to hers – except his shoulders were wider. Forcing herself to ignore that 'minor' detail, Karin glanced down at his necktie: the stripe too, was green; another B-Rank.

Apart from their shaggy hair, they looked nothing alike; the mood surrounding the elder brother seemed positively sinister when compared to his younger brother's beniegn one.

But when he looked coldly at Karin out of the corner of one eye, she looked unflinchingly back and instead held out her hand for him to shake. "I'm Akimoto Haru."

After a moment of stifling silence, he replied tersely, "Yamada Seinosuke." He turned his face away, ignoring her proffered hand. Eyes narrowing, Karin drew her hand back.

Just two years ago, Karin would have verbalized her anger, but now she swallowed it and forced herself to turn away. She went to Hanatarou, who had been wringing his hands during the whole encounter. Cocking an eyebrow, Karin commented, "You're awfully nervous for a bodyguard."

Hanatarou scratched the back of his neck in embarrassment. "Haha… I'm not really a bodyguard. I'm an on-site medic for bodyguards. I just happen to be going through the same warm ups as the bodyguards."

"Oh?" Karin asked, intrigued. "Then your brother is an on-site medic as well?"

"On top of being a bodyguard, yes. He's lots more skilled than me." Hanatarou admitted sheepishly.

"Well, he certainly looks rather…" Karin struggled to find a diplomatic way to say 'creepy'. "…imposing."

Hanatarou laughed nervously. "Well, others call him creepy. I'm the 'scaredy cat,' dubbed by Kuukaku-san. We're are the oddballs of The Force." He hung his head and said almost inaudibly, "I'm a coward. I always freeze up whenever I'm on field."

He was so reminiscent of Kira that Karin slapped him on the back despite herself. "Stand straight and proud, Hanatarou. Even if you say you're scared, you're still here, aren't you? That proves that you're not a coward, so you have nothing to be ashamed of."

With Karin's encouragement, Hanatarou straightened to all his stature of 5 feet.

As it neared 5:20 AM, more and more members of The Force trickled in.

Some eyed Karin with half-hearted interest, others with apathy, still others ignored her or were not even aware of her presence, which suited Karin just fine. By the end, there seemed to be about a hundred men milling around the room. They all wore green ties. It was a room full of B-Ranks.

At 5:29 AM, the bodyguards began to meander into line.

Exactly when the digital clock read 5:30 AM, a bell rang and the bodyguards all stood in a line. All except for Karin, who hastily sprang into the nearest open spot between Hanatarou and a blonde man who obviously thought that his sunglasses and tiny mohawk were most stylish things in the room.

Dead silence reigned over the room for about minute.

"Akimoto Haru! Is Akimoto Haru here!"

Karin looked up with alarm. A man with a beard and a ponytail at the front had called out her name. Belatedly, she stood at attention. "Y, yes?"

Though his eyes were hidden behind red sunglasses, Karin knew that he was surveying her. And somehow she knew from the context that it wasn't in a good way.

"You. Are out of line."

At first, Karin thought that statement meant what it usually did – that she had done something that she shouldn't have. "Huh?" But what had she done? Should she have saluted? Or have raised her hand instead of simply saying yes?

The man barked through her thoughts. "We stand in alphabetical order*, Akimoto!"

Karin's eyes widened.

"Your surname is the only one that starts with the character 'a' here, so get to the front!" He pointed vehemently towards the rightmost end of the line. "I'm letting you off this time because you're a newbie! You're lucky I'm a forgiving man!"

As Karin scurried over to her proper place, she heard some other members of the force snickering. _'Glad they're amused at my expense.'_ Karin thought in annoyance. _'And damn you Shiba Kaien. You knew this would happen.'_

The man continued to call out names. "Aramaki Makizou!"

The man on the furthest right saluted. "Sir!"

"Ide* Harutoki!"

"Sir!"

_[*The Japanese alphabet starts with the vowels, 'a, i, u, e, o' then 'ka ki ku ke ko' then 'sa etc' 'ta etc' "na etc…" anyways, it's not like the American alphabet.]_

"Uehara Kei!"

The man next to Ide Harutoki also saluted. "Sir!"

"Umesada Toshimori!"

"Sir!"

"Enjouji Tatsufusa!"

"Sir!"

"Ooshima Reiichi!"

The man next to Karin – Ide Harutoki – with the close-cropped hair whispered, "It's ok. He's like that with all newcomers."

Next to him, Uehara Kei muttered, "Like you would know. You were the last newbie before him."

Karin interjected, "What's his name? The man taking roll?"

"Kotsubaki. Kotsubaki Jinnemon."

The name 'Kotsubaki 'shifted something in Karin's mind. "You mean the one who mans the desk and prints out your ID card? He doesn't look –"

Harutoki started, "No, that's his son –"

"Shhh!" Kei hissed as Kotsubaki the elder finished roll call.

"We will now go into pairs to warm up!" Jinnemon called out. Turning towards Karin, he roared, "Akimoto! Because of you, we have an odd number!"

 _'It's not like it's my fault…'_ Karin thought sullenly.

"So I'll just have to warm up with you!"

As the other bodyguards paired up with one another, Jinnemon waved Karin over impatiently. This was nothing like the warm and inviting atmosphere that Karin had gotten the impression of from Kaien. As she walked over to Jinnemon she reminded herself that she had matched nearly all her peers in The Academy. He couldn't be much different, she told herself. And though he was muscular, he was only a scant few centimeters taller than her after all.

How wrong she was. He was much older and infinitely more experienced at fighting than she was.

To say the distance between the Jinnemon built in Karin's imagination and the true Jinnemon was vast would have been an understatement. Though she easily dodged the attacks at first, gradually both strength and speed of the attacks escalated. After a while, Karin couldn't merely dodge the blows; she had to block them, which actually began to hurt the appendages she was blocking the attacks with. She got in a blow or two in between the the hailstorm of blows from his end, but soon enough, she was being driven back. She had to avoid one… two… three… four feints… Then there came one hook that she couldn't dodge or block.  
Karin grimaced, expecting a full frontal blow to her face. But Jinnemon stopped just a centimeter short of her face.

"Huh."

Jinnemon lowered his fist and she thought she saw a hint of disdain on his face. To her surprise, his voice was not full of disdain but of curiosity. "…Some interesting moves you got there, kid."

Karin swallowed and stood stock still, frozen in place.

"Looks like you adapted your fighting technique to suit your small body." Apparently Karin's resentment at the 'small' part showed on her face, since he barked, "That's right, small, Akimoto! No use denying the obvious! You're almost as shrimpy as that Yamada flower shrimp." Karin's brow furrowed at that. She wasn't _that_ small. She bit back an acrid comeback that he was barely taller than her as he turned his back on her. "Alright brats, end of warm up! Now we start the real work out! Group A, stay for the exercise; Group B, go to your shifts!" Karin just stood there, at a loss for what to do. Seeing this, Jinnemon snapped at her, "Groups are divided in half by alphabetical order. That makes you, the first in the alphabet, part of Group A, _comprende_? So stay for the exercise!"

Karin obeyed.

The 'exercise' turned out to be all the different types of rock-climbing and scrambling* for rescue.

_[*scrambling: ascending rocky hills/surfaces.]_

Karin grit her teeth as she struggled to tighten a figure 8 knot.

" – is this –" she yanked at the knot, " – what you do – " she stood up to loop it onto a knob some 10 feet above, " – every – " she tried again when the rope failed to hook on properly, " – fucking – "she tested it with her weight, " – day! " Karin winced as the knot slipped, causing her to fall back to the ground with a thud. Karin could have sworn that the gun clipped to her hip had chipped her pelvis. Hiking the belt up a bit, Karin tried again, thinking privately that she would have a large bruise there the next day.

Harutoki, who was having much more success with his fisherman's knot, answered, "No, we switch exercises every week."

Finally having succeeded in looping the rope around the knot, Karin clung to the rope as she started climbing up. "48 a year, then?" She hollered back down. "Dammit – " She cursed as her hold faltered. She was terrible at climbing, which in turn, was a terrible flaw in her physical education. Her corset ground into her ribs, making her grimace, but she regained her hold.

"46, actually. The last week of every 6 months is saved for the biannual exams."

Karin nearly slipped again when she heard the dreaded word. Clinging to the rope for dear life, she screeched down, "The biannual WHAT. Please tell me I misheard."

Before Harutoki could answer, Jinnemon's voice rang out throughout the arena. "Alright, break before switching shifts!"

Karin, ignoring the rope burn that she would get, slid down to the ground as quickly as possible. Forgetting that she had tied a knot that had become virtually impossible to undo, she began to yank at it, futilely.

"Gee, stubborn as a bull, aren't you." Hands gripped the rope above her and whipped up swiftly and then abruptly pulled down, deftly catching the rope.  
Karin turned indignantly to Kaien, who was grinning at her like a cat.

"I didn't need your help, I almost had it!" She crossed her arms, forgetting to be polite. Inside, she was cursing at herself for being so stupid; she had forgotten about how the knots were designed.

Twirling the rope mockingly like a cowboy, Kaien smugly said, "Yeah, sure."

"What are you doing here anyways, _Lieutenant_?" Karin said stabbingly.  
Kaien rolled his eyes. "Wow, you've caught on quick on how best to annoy me. Regardless…" He hooked an arm around Karin's neck, "I will take you to lunch. I am determined do my job as your mentor."

Resisting the urge to elbow him in the stomach, Karin shot back, "Yeah, your job as a mentor. Really good at that you are, sir. You failed to mention the details of what we do half the day and the way we do it."

"Hey, take it easy. You'll get the hang of things. I believe in you. You look like a smart kid."

Incensed by Kaien's nonchalance, Karin plowed on, "Really? Training? We get paid to train? I did plenty of that back in The Academy!" Nevertheless, she allowed herself to be wheeled out of the room by Kaien.

Kaien gave Karin a look of mock-surprise. "Your don't like being paid to exercise?" When Karin glared at him, he laughed. "Don't worry, you'll get more than your share of battle in this company. At least, you will once you're promoted." Loosening his hold on her neck, he switched subjects. "So, do you prefer salad with eggs or with chicken? Or…" Winking, Kaien whispered conspiratorially, "…would you like ramen?"

Briefly forgetting her rant, Karin stared at Kaien like he had gone insane. "…And what's the answer supposed to be? I don't really care what salad as long as it's not drowned in dressing, but am I supposed to say 'salad' or 'ramen'?"

Shrugging, Kaien replied carelessly, "You don't necessarily have to eat healthy here. It's just recommended. It's your loss if you die out in the field."

"Great." Karin said flatly. "So comforting."

"Oh c'mon. Lighten up. It's just one meal. And I have some things to tell you."

After a moment of hesitation, Karin nodded. "…Okay. Ramen."

"Alright! My treat!"

Despite her previous attitude, Karin followed her mentor obediently to what seemed like a restaurant he frequented. Pushing the flap aside to enter a small but cozy shop, Kaien called out, "Oi~ Shiba here! The usual for me!" He turned to Karin. "And what type of ramen do you like?"

Automatically, Karin answered, "Shoyu."

"And one large shoyu!" Kaien shouted cheerfully. A call of assent came back and Kaien sat down, grinning. "I come here at least twice a month." A waitress came and set down disposable chopsticks and cups of green tea in front of them.

Picking up the unsplit wooden chopsticks, Kaien bit the end and expertly flicked a hand to split them cleanly in two. Examining them with exaggerated interest, Kaien asked nonchalantly, "So where're you really from, Haru?"

Splinters flew everywhere as Karin split her own chopsticks in a majestic fail.

"Whoa there, Haru. Easy on the wood." He waved an arm and called, "Another pair of chopsticks please!" Turning back to Karin, he remarked, "It must've been a long time since you split chopsticks. Come to think of it, I remember back at The Academy they had reusable chopsticks."

Karin stared down at the remains of her chopsticks. _'What did he mean by that question? Where am I really from? Does he suspect…?'_ Thoughts scrambled through Karin's head like bunnies on caffeine.

"What do you mean by 'really'?" Karin asked and took a hasty gulp of tea. She spluttered as the tea scalded her tongue and throat.

Nonplussed, Kaien looked at her. "Uh. What do you mean by what do I mean. I was asking where you're from. Like… where's your hometown?"

Internally, Karin called herself ten different types of idiot. Externally, she said with forced calm, "Well, I'm originally from Australia, but I was sent to a boarding school when I was eight." She took the proffered chopsticks from the young waitress with a small smile and a thanks. This time, she broke them without much difficulty, though there were still a few small splinters sticking out near the tops.

"Oh yeah… I remember now. That's what was written on your resume." Kaien's gaze was still a bit suspicious as he surveyed Karin through the gap between his chopsticks. But instead of pursuing it, he said, "Well then. You said you think that the training we go through half the day is pointless? Why?"

Immensely relieved at the change of subject, Karin asked, "You went to The Academy, didn't you?"

Kaien leaned back, juggling the chopsticks. "Yes I did, and yes, I know how intense the training is. But the training at The Force is different from that. At The Academy, they teach combat techniques and hacking, which, given how often I use the latter, is practically useless. Those are for freelance "bodyguards' who specialize in 'offense', you catch my drift?"

Karin protested, "But there were simulations of defending the Principal from atta– "

"Yes, protecting someone from incoming attacks is one thing a bodyguard has to do. But that's only one thing." He twirled a chopstick. "The umbrella objective of a bodyguard is to keep their principal safe from harm. That's different from just defending someone from attacks. It's surprising how few people in this industry can tell the difference between the two. You'd think it obvious, no?" He thanked the server when she came to refill their cups. "From your face, I can see that you're another one who doesn't understand."

Kaien picked up the cup by the edges in order to keep his fingers from getting scalded. "See, for example, a CEO hires you to stay at his side at all times to keep him safe. One of his main hobbies involve, say… skydiving. Obviously, your job is to keep him from falling to his death. So you'll have to become familiar with all the equipment and become an expert in skydiving yourself."

Karin looked at him skeptically. "An expert? Doesn't it take years of experience to become an – ?"

"In our company, personal bodyguards are elite. There's a specific selection process. An elite should be able to become an expert at anything." Before Karin could get a word in edgewise, Kaien continued, "Then you'll ideally devise another way to keep him from becoming a big bloodstain on the ground in the case something goes horribly wrong. For example, a parachute doesn't open properly. So you'll have to stage it above a lake, or even install a net with a several mile radius around the drop zone."

It occurred to Karin that going to those lengths would be more than her salary's worth.

Kaien blew at his tea a bit. "On the other hand, imagine a scenario where people who don't… appreciate… the CEO's latest decision… hire hitmen and they stage an attack, so you fight to protect the CEO." He smirked at Karin, who had by now long since gotten his point. "Well, this is a bit of an exaggerated example, but you see the difference now?"

Karin managed to suppress her annoyance at his know-it-all attitude and instead took a sip of tea once more, carefully rolling the liquid around the scalded part of her tongue.

"So you learned how to climb today." Kaien too, took a careful sip from his steaming cup. "That's useful if your principal likes to rock climb. You'll see that we'll do training for swimming with your clothes on for principals who like to swim in case they drown."

The mention of swimming did not bring back pleasant memories for Karin. But she saw his point. It had taken her over a month to even remotely be able to swim properly with clothes on – not to mention the cursed corset – on. That was a more practical style of learning.

"So this training prepares you for situations that depend on what activities the Principal does." Karin stated.  
The young woman set a bowl of steaming miso ramen in front of Kaien. "Exactly." Though the steam hid his face, Kaien's tone was smug. "If you get promoted to guard a high ranking officer – for example, a board member – you're going to have to deal with their quirks."

Karin, too, got a face full of steam from the bowl placed in front of her.

"Incidentally, most of the higher ups share the same characteristics; enjoy hiking, backpacking, bouldering, surfing… and like I mentioned before, skydiving… the works. Anything that remotely involves physical activity. After all, though they're board members, they're board members of a weapons company." The steam subsided a bit, revealing his wry smile.

"…So that explains why we're learning such… adventurous rescue activities."

"Yup. That about sums it up." Kaien slurped a mouthful of curly noodles. "And you might want to start on those noodles before they get all bloated and stretchy."

Karin stared down at her ramen; the combination of ramen, chopsticks, and mention of adventure brought back her other mentor and father figure to mind. She was silent for the rest of lunch.

As Kaien walked her back, he asked, "Any other questions? You look like something's bothering you."

Karin sighed. Unable to say what was really on her mind, she asked off the top of her head, "Where're the female bodyguards?"

Kaien raised an eyebrow. "The women are put together with groups of A and S-Rank men to protect solo executives during working hours." He gave Karin a once over and peered into her face. "Even 16 year old kids are men, eh? Well, you're kind of a pretty boy, so I suppose you must be popular with women. Japanese women these days like pretty and… err. Slender guys like you."

Karin pursed her lips. Slender; when applied to men, the gentle way of saying scrawny.

To get away from the subject matter, Karin asked, "What color necktie stands for what rank?"

Kaien slapped his forehead. "Agh, I didn't tell you that, did I? White is D-Rank. Blue is C-Rank; green," he motioned towards her tie, "is B, and red is A. Black is S."

Before Karin could ask what color X-Ranks wore, they had arrived at the staff room. Kaien clapped her on the shoulder and told her, "Visit Kotsubaki before you leave; your uniform is probably ready." Whistling, he wandered away.

Karin stood in line once again with the rest of Group A before Jinnemon as he took roll call again.

"Akimoto!"

This time, Karin saluted without hesitation, "Sir!"

"Ide!"

"Sir!"

"Uehara!"

"Sir!"

After finishing roll call, Jinnemon shouted, "I shouldn't have to remind you, but since we have a greenhorn in our midst, you have to carry your weight around here. So go and switch shifts with Group B, and I'll meet you back here at 9 pm!"

As the members of Group A started jogging up the stairs, Karin followed them, irritated because she, not for the first time that day, had no idea what was going on. Why hadn't Kaien told her what they would do next? Why hadn't she asked while she had the chance? Why did Group B only have to work 6 hours but Group A had to work 9? Was Group A paid more? But that couldn't be; they were sorted by alphabetical order and the ranks were all the same…

She called to the person jogging ahead of her whom she was pretty sure was called Shigetani. "Oi Shigetani! Why do we have to work longer than Group B?" The blonde and unshaven man turned to give her an offended look. "Nice try, but it's Shigeo Gitano." Nevertheless, he explained, "It's not that we're working more. They work again from 9 to midnight while we go back to training. So both groups work for 9 hours and train for 7. We're just working straight, without breaks." They reached the top of the stairs.

"But that leaves the time slot from midnight to 6 empty. What insane people guard for those shifts?" Karin asked, dismayed.

"As far as I know, A-ranks, or some of them." was Shigeo's reply.

 _'The ones that don't guard the executives.'_ Karin thought. She said out loud, "And what about weekends? Who guards for those?"

"Again, A-ranks." As the group slowed to a walk and split up in two directions, Shigeo beckoned to her. "Come with me. We're divided into two groups of 25 – well, now that you're here, 26 and 25 – to guard two sides of the building each."

Karin trotted after him, taking mental notes of where they were going. _'Left… left… right… door…'_

They arrived at a long wall of steel frames and glass panels with Group B spread out along the wall. When they saw Group A coming, the members of Group B filed out, each member nodding to their respective replacement. About half of Group A fanned out along the inside while the others continued outside.

"Okay, before you came, the exterior guard only had 12 people to our 13, so you can just join them. That'll make the numbers even." Shigeo said, pushing Karin towards the doors leading outside.

Karin held back a wince as the sunlight struck her face. All the other bodyguards had posted themselves out along the building wall. Karin plodded over to take a place at the end of the line, beside a dark-skinned giant.

After a moment, she asked him, "So, what do we do all day?"

The dark-skinned man answered shortly, "We guard."

Karin asked again, phrased differently this time. "So we just stand here all day?"

Karin couldn't see his face expression properly because his bangs covered his eyes. "No. We guard."

"From?" Karin prompted.

"Attackers."

"…By?"

"Checking people."

"…For…?" Karin's patience was running low.

"Weapons."

Karin scanned everybody passing by. They were countless; there was a subway station several blocks away. If they were expecting any hostile visitors, Ammo Co. had obviously not chosen the ideal location to build their headquarters.

Dryly, she asked, "What, we pat everybody passerby down?"

"No."

Rolling her eyes, Karin figured there was no use in asking any more. He was obviously a man of few words.

After about an hour of being bored out of her skull, she decided to exercise her brain and examine all of her new comrades instead.  
She tried to recall their names.

The man beside her had a very memorable name. _'His name was Sado Yasutora…'_ Her eyes slid over to the man next to him. _'Another guy with sunglasses… close cropped hair on top of that… I think his name was Tetsu…mon Iba…'_ She thought that a syllable was missing somewhere, but she didn't really know where. _'I'll have to pay attention tomorrow.'_

Some ways off, she spotted Harutoki, and somebody she clearly remembered as Ooshima Reiichi. He had yellowish orange hair a bit like her brother, but she had a distinct feeling that it was dyed.

After a very long nine hours of checking her watch very very often, Karin sighed with relief as Group B finally came to trade shifts. As Group A headed back to the staff room Karin mused aloud, "Weren't we going to get some field work?"

A bearded man with a stout build answered, "The field work is for the A-ranks." Karin thought it was a miracle that she vaguely remembered the name Umesada.

Curiously, Karin asked, "Then how do we get promoted?"

Umesada looked at her oddly. "The exam at the end every 6 months. Geez, you really don't know anything. Even the last newbie knew more than you."

Karin pursed her lips, silently cursing Kaien. _''Take it easy' my ass. Bastard.'_

After 3 more frustrating hours of trying to learn how to tie different knots, Group A lined up in front of Jinnemon to be dismissed. As she was leaving, Karin passed the desk manned by Kotsubaki the younger and picked up her tailored uniforms.

Karin plodded back up to her home. Reaching her floor, Karin began to fumble for her keys, but before she could find them, the door opened.

"Long day?"

Surprised, Karin asked, "How did you know I was outside?" Walking inside, Karin shed her blazer and tossed it onto the couch.

Renji smirked. "Let's just say a lover's intuition?"

Tired as she was, Karin still snorted. "Sure. Intuition from a rockhead like you."

When she saw Renji's pouting face, she kissed him playfully on the nose. "But I'll believe you."

Renji pushed Karin gently to the bathroom. "Now, go and get ready for bed. And don't forget to take out your contacts."

"Yes, yes. Abarai-sama."

…

_"Do I want good grades, you ask? No. I only want one thing." – The Principal_

…

1 ½ years ago

…

Karin was numb both from the cold and nervousness. Group A had flown from Tokyo to Sapporo for the biannual exams. Now they were in the middle of nowhere, surrounded by snow. And ice. Karin gulped as she stared at the treacherous looking icicles – they seemed to be less like icicles and more like stalactites coated with glass. Very lethal. She quickly lowered her head and immediately felt silly; though she could stand looking straight into the barrel of a gun, she was nervous around icicles, of all things? But she still couldn't look up.  
She peered around surreptitiously at her co-workers; some looked as nervous as she, and others looked bored and even resigned.

But they all had gloves.

She flexed her bare hands in order to keep the circulation going. She thought that gloves wouldn't be necessary, that they would get in the way of things requiring precise finger movement, but now she dearly regretted her decision.

Karin looked from the rope in her hands to the lump of rock about above her. Then she glanced at the weighted mannequin dangling precariously beside it.

Jinnemon's voice echoed, "I will meet you at the finish line. Ready. Set. GO!"

Swallowing tightly, Karin immediately started to tie the fisherman's knot. With her cold-numbed hands, that took several minutes, and it took her another few minutes to loop the rope around herself and take the hammer and pitons out. By the time she had hammered her way up to the mannequin, she was about 10 minutes behind the others.

Carrying the mannequin down was another matter all of its own. Karin would have dearly loved to just toss the mannequin down (conveniently on top of Jinnemon's head), but she was forced to harness and secure the mannequin to her belt and throw herself down, releasing the parachute at the exact moment. _'Dammit…'_ She could see the bodyguards sledding down the slope already. But even that sight disappeared beneath a pattern of black and white as the parachuting cloth smothered Karin.

Cursing, Karin fought her way out from under the parachute as she simultaneously unclipped the weighted mannequin from her belt and burdened it over to the nearest snowmobile. Pushing the mannequin in first, Karin crammed herself behind it. Her frozen hands found the key already in the ignition. She grit her teeth as she remembered the first time she had learned to drive.

"What? I don't even know how to drive a car! How can I – "

Kaien insisted, "If you learn how to drive a motorcycle first, learning how to drive a car is a piece of cake!"

Karin highly doubted this but Kaien continued, "What, you're too chicken to drive one measly Suzuki? Looks like I overestimated you." He turned around, and a sneaky smile came onto his face. As he predicted, Karin played right into his hands.

"Wh-who says I'm afraid!" Karin leapt onto the motorcycle.

She'd only just transferred from driving a motorcycle to driving a car a week ago; it was also her first time driving a snowmobile. She guessed it would be a rough cross between driving a motorcycle and a car, but had no idea what it was like driving on ice. Closing her eyes tightly and sending up a prayer to whoever might be listening, Karin snapped on the goggles hanging from the snowmobile and turned the key in the ignition.

The engine roared to life and Karin opened her eyes and whooshed right down the hill. During the way down, Karin felt as if the wind would tear off the skin on her face. _'Thank the lord I brought goggles…'_ Otherwise her eyeballs would have long since dried out.

Karin chanced a glance at the speedometer and winced when she saw the needle go past 180 mph and into unlabeled territory. By now, she had given up hope for the chance of passing the exam. She just hoped dearly, for the sake of her own life, that there would be enough level ground for her to slow her snowmobile down.

At that time, the mannequin started rattling dangerously. It looked like the head was about to come off.

"Oh, no you don't…!" Forgetting that her first priority was to survive, Karin tightened one hand around a handle and straightened the dummy. But this turned out to be a mistake; her intention to straighten the mannequin had backfired and instead the head flew into the snow, never to be seen again. Karin remembered her priorities just in time to start to flutter the brake just a bit as she saw level ground rapidly approaching.

As she skidded to a stop, Karin heard a familiar voice.

"Well well well. If it isn't Akimoto."

Jinnemon stood in front of her. She panned her eyes up to his thunderous face.

_'Oh boy…'_


	18. The Bodyguard Part II Mission 3

A/N: T_T a million apologies, a kow-tow, and a new chapter, albeit a short one. I needed to make a hard, hard decision, but I didn't succeed, so I prolonged it the best I could. But the furthest I can extend the deadline is this chapter. Come next chapter, I need to decide who the employer's son is going to be…! For the longest time, I've had it narrowed it down to two people. TWO measly guys, and I still can't decide which.

…

**The Bodyguard Part II**

Mission 3

…

_"You know what? If and when I defeat you right here and now, you quit. Deal?" – The Principal_

_…_

_1 ½ years ago_

…

Karin was the sorest she had ever been in several years; in fact, it was the first time she had been this sore since they had arrived back in Tokyo.

And for the first time, again, since shooting lessons in The Academy, Karin had been one of the poorest performers on a test. The only ones who had come after her was stocky Umesada and some other guy with the top of his hair dyed blonde. Toba, was it? Groaning, she ignored the regulations for once and put her head in her hands.

Yasutora looked at her; if he was worried, he didn't show it. But he asked her, "Are you alright?"

Surprised to actually hear him speaking voluntarily, Karin croaked out a laugh. Lifting her head from her hands, she commented, "Wow. I feel like it's been ages since you spoke more than one word." She was too tired to be polite.

Not offended at all, Yasutora smiled a bit.

Leaning back, Karin grumbled, "I'd like to take a break… no, a vacation… right about now…"

If Yasutora's eyes weren't hidden by his bangs, Karin could have sworn that they were glinting with amusement. "You could petition for one, but I don't think anybody's tried. They're too afraid of being dismissed. Everybody thinks that the CEO's hides another side of himself behind his pleasant face."

Karin was too surprised that Yasutora was stringing several sentences together to retort that she didn't know what the president looked like. Unlike her father, he didn't seem to enjoy being the center of attention, and didn't have a single picture featured in a magazine.

"Some of us are rewarded with breaks. Or medical leave, if we get injured on field." Sado Yasutora was being unusually talkative today. Which aroused Karin's suspicion.

"How'd you do on the test?" Karin asked with narrowed eyes.

After a moment of silence, he said, "The results won't come out today."

Under Karin's thunderous stare, Yasutora assured, "But I'm sure that I'm not in the top ten."

Karin sighed. The humiliation of being almost dead last was getting to her. Collapsing back, she told Yasutora with a tired voice, "I'm going to sleep for the rest of the shift. I don't care if I'm fired. So don't wake me up."

…

_"…And why do I have to ride in the back seat…? It's enough of a concession that I'm not driving. I should at least get shotgun." – The Principal_

_…_

_1 year ago_

…

"Renji!"

Karin banged the apartment door open and made a beeline for the bed where Renji lay, groggy from just waking up from a nap.

"Huh whuh…? Kari – OOF!"

Karin had belly-flopped onto his stomach.

Ignoring Renji's groans of pain, Karin yelled gleefully, "Renji, I finally passed!" She thrust a red tie in Renji's face. She'd failed the test before, but this time around she'd made it. "Only two others made it besides me!" They'd been that giant Sado Yasutora and the guy eternally wearing sunglasses, Tetsuzaemon Iba.

Renji's face quickly transformed from one of pain to one of displeasure.

"…Yeah yeah, congrats, now get offa me…"

At this less-than-pleased reaction, Karin looked slightly hurt, but climbed off of him nevertheless. "…What, Renji, you aren't happy for me?"

Sullenly, Renji said, "If you hadn't leapt onto me and taken me off guard, I could've acted happy. But as of now, I'm not even in the mood to pretend."

Karin crossed her arms. "And why would you have to pretend?" she said with a surge of anger.

Renji turned his face into a pillow, muffling his voice. "'Cause you'll be in more danger if you're promoted…"

Rolling her eyes, Karin poked what little of his forehead was exposed with a finger. "How am I in any danger right now? All I've been doing is keeping the civilians 'out' and away from the company headquarters. I've been playing guard dog for a year now."

Though his voice was still muffled, his brown eyes arose from their fluffy fort to stare resentfully at Karin. "You were around all those guys."

Karin raised an eyebrow. "My co-workers, you mean?"

"That Kaien, especially."

Snorting, Karin pulled Renji's arm from beneath his head and used it as a pillow. "Jealous now, are we?"

Renji looked disgruntled. "More like worried."

Nuzzling his neck, Karin nipped at his earlobe and whispered, "Don't be. I'll still be doing guard duty. It's just moved to somewhere else is all."

At her actions, Renji's mouth twisted into a half-smile; as he began to kiss her, Karin decided the news that the 'somewhere else' would actually be orbiting around a live, moving principal could wait. She was not of the unlucky majority that had to do guard duty from midnight to the crack of dawn.

No indeed.

She'd had enough of playing Doberman. Now she'd work with the S-ranks. She would meet her first real principal tomorrow.

The first day of her 'A-rankness', as she liked to think of it, Karin reported to her mentor.

"Oi, Haru! Glad to see you made it." Kaien said mischievously.

"Yessir!" Karin saluted with a toothy grin.

"You've been assigned – ahem, with my strong recommendation, might I say – to my squad. But needless to say, you needn't call me lieutenant."

"Yessir lieutenant sir."

Kaien rolled his eyes. "I said you didn't have to call me lieutenant."

Karin's only reply was a lopsided grin.

"At least one person's in a good mood today."

It was a woman's voice, wry and sarcastic.

Karin whirled around to see a pale woman with a lithe figure. Though her stature was petite – she didn't even reach 5 feet – her triceps shone from beneath her sleeveless black shirt. Despite her unconventional uniform, Karin knew it was a uniform; the woman had a black necktie.

Kaien waved. "G'morn Soi Fong! Good timing, I'll introduce you two. This is Aki – "

"Don't call be by my name." Soi Fong said shortly. "I'm going ahead."

Stunned by the lady's rude manner, Karin stared after Soi Fong, who had deliberately pushed past Kaien.

" – moto Haru…" Kaien sighed; by the time he completed the sentence, Soi Fong was in the distance.

Even after Soi Fong had disappeared, Karin stared after the woman with raised brows. "That's new. I thought everybody was nice to you. Or at least civil."

Crossing his arms, Kaien defended, "Can't say I've seen Soi Fong be nice to _anybody_. So it's not just me." After a pause, he ruffled a hand through his hair. "But I admit she's especially cold to me. Lord knows why…"

"Perhaps she thinks you've taken her rightful spot as the lieutenant?"

Where Soi Fong once was, a woman with her long black hair pulled back in a ponytail stood instead. She wore a crimson tie just like Karin. Kaien's face broke out into a smile.

"Miyako!"

"Hello, Lieutenant Kaien." Miyako turned to Karin. "So you're the one he's been raving about this past year?"

This time, Karin raised both brows. "Raving?" she questioned, turning to Kaien in surprise.

Kaien avoided her gaze, and instead scratched his neck, his cheeks tinged red.

Miyako giggled. "Ah, should I have kept that a secret?" She leaned in close and whispered, "He may put up a tough exterior, but he gets embarrassed easily."

Straightening, Miyako held out a hand for Karin to shake. "Call me Miyako. And thanks to Kaien, I know you're name is Akimoto Haru." She flashed Karin a dazzling smile.

A very pretty man – reminding Karin a bit of Luppi – with a bob cut, stepped into the room. Though he wore a black necktie, on closer look, he'd had it stylized with silver speckles.

"Oh, so this is our new A-Rank?"

Kaien affirmed, "Yep. Haru, I introduce you to Yumichika Ayasegawa. Ayasegawa, this is Akimoto Haru, the new A-Rank in our squad."

Seeing Ayasegawa circling around Karin and scrutinizing her with eyes like a hawk, Kaien raised an eyebrow. "Oh, does he match your 'standard of beauty'?"

"'He'?" Turning, Ayasegawa paused and fixed his keen eyes on Kaien. "Kaien. Are you sure this kid's a 'he'?"

With only a little effort, Karin rolled her eyes as if she were used to the comment; which she should have been, if it weren't so close to the mark to make her nervous. If even this pretty man thought she was a girl, then she was in trouble. Was she that skinny? And it wasn't like she could bulk up, if she wanted to spend what little free time she had with Renji. She retorted snappishly, "I could say the same of you, you know?"

Kaien snorted. "And so the war between the two pretty boys start." He turned to Ayasegawa. "And that's the first thing that crossed my mind too – sorry Haru – but trust me, what little mass this kid has is one big muscle."

There was a buzzing sound from Kaien's pocket and he took his cellphone out. He briefly glanced around. "Alright, four of us here… let's get moving. The other four are already on location."

Too late, Karin realized that the A-Rank orientation had gone by without her learning anything besides the fact that she was in Kaien's squad. That and the names of a few of her fellow squad members. If it were anything like last year, she would have to undergo immense bother and humiliation to learn her way around. Privately heaving a sigh, Karin followed the rest of the squad to 'the location' to 'protect _him.'_ Whoever _'he'_ was. She had no idea who her first principal _ever_ , was.

Quietly, she asked Miyako, "This is a stupid question, but I seriously don't know… Just _who_ is this person we're going to protect?"

Miyako looked momentarily surprised before she shot an expression caught between amusement and resignation toward Kaien's oblivious back. "He didn't even tell you that?" Karin shook her head. "He must _really_ like you then." When Karin's eyes widened, Miyako giggled. "It means he has high hopes for you. He doesn't tell anything to the people he wants to test. Well, since Kaien hasn't told you anything yet, I'll wait." Miyako seemed amused at Karin's bubbling outrage.

After they had mounted an elevator, Karin craned her neck to see Kaien press 50, which she assumed was the top floor. They shot up, and Karin felt like she'd left her insides down at the ground floor.

Resisting the urge to grab onto a side of the elevator, Karin said rather stiffly to no one in particular, "Man, these elevators are fast."

"You'll get used to it." Miyako assured her.

The elevator slowed down and bumped to a stop at the top floor. One by one, the squad members stepped out of the elevator. Like Kaien had said, four other bodyguards were standing ready outside the elevator. Other than Soi-Fong, there was one other girl who wore a black tie, and two other men, one tall with long blonde hair and a black tie, and the other one completely normal in comparison and a red tie. Miyako hurriedly introduced her to them.

"This is our new A-rank in the team, Akimoto Haru. Haru-kun, you may have met her before, but this person is Soi-Fong. This is Ootoribashi Rojuurou, an S-rank. And this is Katakura Asuka, the same A-rank as you. And this is Aris -" Miyako stopped as she looked over Karin's shoulder.

"So this is the new one?" A voice asked.

It had to belong to the person so important that a whole squadron of bodyguards had been assigned to protect him. The first principal Karin had been officially assigned to. The damned headmaster didn't count.

Karin whipped around in the direction the voice came from and bowed from her waist.

"Akimoto Haru at your service, sir!"

She heard soft laughter.

"You're just as I heard from Kaien-kun."

Karin was glad that she was still bent in the 90º angle, as her face had instinctively screwed up into a mixture of annoyance and confusion. _'That Kaien… And what did he tell him that he can find out just by looking at me? That I'm small?'_

"Well, you can't stay in that position forever; would you straighten up for me?"

Swallowing, Karin slowly straightened her back, and took in a sharp breath.

The man standing before her was beautiful; though he had premature lines on his face, he had delicate features. But his most defining trait was his long silvery hair. Then again, Karin knew several other people with silvery-white hair.

"He's younger than I expected."

Karin expected a tone of disapproval, but his tone as well as his face expression, was thoughtful. Her new principal smiled at her and placed a reassuring hand on her shoulder. "I am in your care now, Akimoto-kun."

His green eyes looked earnestly into Karin's disguised blue ones. She bowed slightly. "And I in yours, sir."

A thought occurred to her, that if she'd known there would be so many odd hair and eye colors in the industry, she wouldn't have bothered with colored contacts in the first place. But she remembered that blue eyes were directly associated with the persona 'Kurosaki Karin,' though not nearly as prominently as orange hair was linked with the persona 'Kurosaki Ichigo.' After all, there'd been a huge feature about her brother's hair and her eyes in a gunhead magazine a while back.

The next thing she knew, the introductions were over – without her learning a single thing about the identity of her new principal besides his appearance – and they were accompanying him back into the elevator.

Once they were in the elevator, Karin was temporarily distracted by the tight spacing to worry about who her principal was. She shifted uncomfortably against the elevator wall. The maximum capacity for the elevator was ten people, and currently, there were nine.

Yumichika Ayasegawa stood directly in front of her, the back of his well-groomed head practically against her nose; Karin had to fight back a sneeze from the cologne. Asuka pressed in from her right, and Rojuurou from her left. Though she'd been among men for almost three years, such direct proximity – being crammed next to men – was still uncomfortable for her. _'You'd think a company like this could afford larger elevators…'_ Karin thought irritably. But she'd been quick to realize Ammo Co. wasn't quite as well off as Kurosaki Armament.

Miyako, the sullen Soi-Fong, and one other woman whom Miyako did not get around to introducing, stood together at the front. Karin was rather bummed about the distance between her and Miyako; she had forgotten how nice being around a normal (or as normal as a female bodyguard can be) woman had been. The women at The Academy didn't count; they had all been rather intimidating – especially the nurse.

The elevator zoomed down again, and Karin again felt like she was back on a roller coaster. This time, the elevator stopped at the third floor, in charge of manufacturing clips of what looked like belonged a smaller model gun. Karin was somewhat surprised that she wasn't aware of which parts belonged to which gun for Ammo Co. She resolved to study them when she had free time.

Though workers stopped to bow to their principal, Karin wasn't any closer to figuring out her silver-haired principal's identity. She tried to subtly shuffle over to Miyako to get a hint, but it was futile; Miyako stood the furthest possible from she and every time she tried to get closer, the party would start moving again. She would have to wait for someone to speak to the principal that required eight bodyguards.

Going up the floors, Karin saw that each floor manufactured different parts, and her mind was split between the elevating desperation to discover her principal's identity and the increasing chagrin as she realized that she knew such few parts of the weapons belonging to the company she'd worked at for a whole year.

"Oh, Kiyone-kun!" A small lady with short brown hair, holding a clipboard perked up. "How's your sister's arm doing?"

Kiyone saluted and answered, "It was a clean break, so the doctors say that Isane-neesan will be making a speedy recovery!"

The silver haired man smiled. "I'm relieved to hear that. Give her my best next time you visit her. And tell her I'll be visiting soon."

Smiling brightly, Kiyone chirped, "That's very kind of you Kaichou-sama!"

Karin felt like a bucket of ice water had been dumped over her head.

She realized that her new principal was Ukitake Juushirou, the president of Ammo Co.

Her chances of being discovered by her father had just skyrocketed.


	19. The Bodyguard Part II Mission 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> http://crystallinex.deviantart.com/art/The-Bodyguard-Don-t-Move-314586695  
> I drew this a while back, but struggled with both the gun, plus I was unsure of how to make Karin passable as a guy but still look like herself…

**The Bodyguard**  
Part II Mission 4

…

_"Don't laugh, Gin! Two people close to me have already… I don't want you to join them. Just, stop. Please." – Kurosaki Karin_

_…_

_1 year ago – Kisuke_

…

Various paraphernalia sat on Urahara Kisuke's desk; half of it food wrappers and the other half puzzles. Beside the empty gummy wrappers and the crumbling crackers, there was a Rubik's cube, an even bigger Rubik's Revenge, over fifteen mechanical puzzles, and sheaves of Sudoku and cryptograms, with a 5000 piece jigsaw of a black cat beneath it all.

The headmaster leant back in his chair, seemingly immersed in the process of solving a metal link puzzle, involving disentangling the circular metal link from the rest of the puzzle. But he spoke, "Are you quite sure about this, Preceptor Ichimaru? It's not too late to refuse, you know." With his eyes hidden by the brim of his striped hat, it was impossible to tell whether he was looking at the person before him or not.

Gin wore his usual smile as he shrugged and replied, "No reason ta refuse. 'Sides, all the fun's left already."

Having picked apart the puzzle already, Kisuke twirled the metal ring round his finger, smiling knowingly. "You mean Kurosaki-san."

Gin's poker face gave nothing away. "I wonder what you're talkin' about, now? Don't remember any kid named Kurosaki here."

His smile stretching to rival Gin's, the headmaster twirled the "No need to be coy, Preceptor Ichimaru. I've known from the beginning." When Gin didn't react, Kisuke continued, "Well, I've met her before. Contrary to what people think, I'm rather good at remembering faces."

Still unable to elicit a single reaction from the ever-smiling Gin, Kisuke said, "I'm thinking about telling her father."

Gin's smile flickered. "Oh? Why now?" His poker face was crumbling, noted the headmaster, with no little satisfaction.

Stretching, Kisuke made offhand excuses, "Well, he is her father. Two years of frantic searching has been enough, don't you think? And now that you're leaving, and you being the only other person who recognized Karin for whom she was besides me… I'll be taking all the blame for allowing her to stay, I suppose, being the self-sacrificial person I am." Contrary to his words, Kisuke was smiling widely.

But Gin had completely dropped his smile, and his accent had abruptly faded.

"I am going to Firebrand under your orders."

"You could still say no."

Gin ignored this. "You asked me what I wanted in return?"

Kisuke looked over steepled fingers at his new spy, who was outright glaring at him with his pale blue eyes.

"Yes?"

"Don't touch her."

…

_"Incompetent men make the best bodyguards. It's the competent ones that are the worst." – The Principal_

_…_

_1 year ago – Karin_

…

As she followed her new principal around the building, Karin resolved to take a leaf out of many of her peers' books and keep sunglasses on her person at all times, like her gun and boot knife. If she was going to be this close to her father's rival and stand a chance of not being discovered she needed to.

Presently, President Ukitake was sitting in a lounge filled with different snacks, and practically every type of coffee maker. When a barista tried to brew Juushirou a cup of coffee, he waved her off.

"How many times do I have to tell you that I like making my own coffee? Nothing like making your own drip coffee." He set a coffee machine and sat down on one of the many couches. "Coffee, anybody?" His question fell on deaf ears, as his bodyguards had all slid into the '8-men around a stationary principal' formation (with only a minor hiccup, as Karin, unfamiliar with the routine, bumped into Soi Fong, successfully receiving a withering glare).

Juushirou tried speaking directly to one person. "Soi Fong-kun, you like the *black eye, don't you?"

_[black-eye: besides the bruise, black-eye is dripped coffee with two espresso shots. Companion to Red-eye = one shot of espresso, and Dead-eye = three shots.]_

Soi Fong said nothing. She was rude even to her principal, Karin thought.

But it seemed that the company president had expected it, as he tried Kaien next. "I know you like espresso."

Turning around, Kaien grinned. "You know how all of us take our morning drinks, *Kaichou."

_[*Kaichou: President]_

Kaien shot Karin a look, and amended, "Well, seven of us, now that Rukia's left."

Rukia? The name sounded familiar.

The president nodded. "Ah. Yes. She's gone over to Armament?"

Karin was deeply surprised at the lack of enmity in Juushirou's tone whatsoever. You'd think there wasn't over four decades worth of rivalry between Ammo Co. and Kurosaki Armament.

Kaien paused before answering, "Well, she actually went over to Kurosaki Isshin's son, Ichigo. They're holding an engagement-party next week."

Karin was bowled over by Kaien's statement. So that's where she had heard Rukia's name. Rukia was her brother's friend. Or fiancée-to-be, as she now found out. _Why you… you were hiding your girlfriend from your younger sister, Ichi-nii…_ She stopped dead in her line of thought.

_You're one to talk, Kurosaki Karin. You've been lying to everyone the past 3 years…_

"Hm. I wonder if she'll invite me…"

"It's actually an open party. Anybody could go." Kaien shrugged.

Karin froze. Her brother had agreed to an open engagement party…? What was he thinking?

"Ah, even so, Kurosaki Kaichou will probably not welcome me." Juushirou looked sad.

The president abruptly switched the subject back to coffee. "Well, Akimoto-kun, I have yet to learn how you take your coffee. Will you come sit with me?"

Startled, Karin said the first thing that came to mind. "I only like green tea, sir."

Immediately after the words left her lips she winced. Karin, you idiot. You shouldn't backtalk to your principal…

For the third time that day, Karin was surprised, as she heard laughter.

"That's the same as Rukia-kun. She likes her caffeine, but she dislikes the taste of coffee." He gave her a fatherly smile. "It's okay to not like coffee, sit down anyways. I would like to get to know you more."

Warily, Karin sat down, and as soon she broke formation, the bodyguards shifted into what she assumed was '7-men around 2 stationary people' formation.

Seeing her somewhat offended gaze, Juushirou said, "Yes, despite what you executive protectors say, you are counted as a vulnerable person while you are doing everyday activities." He looked amused. "Well, perhaps better prepared than most, but vulnerable nonetheless."

Standing up, Juushirou took his coffee and a poured a cup of green tea. Handing Karin the green tea, Juushirou asked, "Pardon my asking, but how old are you?"

"Seventeen." Karin let the steam envelop her face in the hopes that it would disguise her embarrassment.

"Ah. My son just turned twenty. He's at a university overseas now, but I hope you two will get a chance to meet when he comes back. I'd like him by my side now, it's been a long four years, if you count the years at The Academy." He smiled. "He graduated from The Academy what, two years before you did? Every time he came for break, he referred to it as a 'hellpit' and I started to regret ever allowing him to go there."

The last comment made for a surprised Karin for the fourth time that day. Forgetting her manners, she asked, "You didn't send him there?"

Juushirou took a sip of coffee from his cup. "If I'd had my way, he would have received as close to a normal education as I could give him. It was his grandfather who sent him there." He smiled to himself. "My predecessor."

Karin searched her mind in an attempt to recall the name of the previous president of Ammo Co.

Yamamoto… Karin paused in her musings. Wasn't Ammo Co. handed down by generations of the family? It was strange that a father and son would have different surnames.

Karin thought she glimpsed sorrow on Juushirou's face for a moment, before it was gone and he stood up.

He tried to wash the mugs that they had used, but an employee practically yanked the cups out of Juushirou's hands and firmly reminded him that a president had more important things to do than rinsing cups.

And so the team of bodyguards resumed their walk behind Juushirou as he continued his rounds, greeting the employees and making sure they were content.

Karin could not help but compare Juushirou with her father. They're so different. The companies are so different. She found it hard to believe that her father could hate such a benign man.

After it turned six o'clock, the team was relieved from their duties for dinner. But even with his fresh bodyguards, the president lingered.

"Shall I treat you all to dinner?"

His offer seemed like a regular occurrence, as did the following refusal. Though the thought of free food was tempting, one thought kept Karin at bay: the more time she spent with the president of Ammo Co., the higher the chances of her father finding her. Refusing as politely as she could, she instead headed off with the others.

To her disappointment, Kaien and Miyako broke off moments later, bidding the others farewell until tomorrow. As the others branched off as well, supposedly going home or meeting up with others, she ended up walking with the black haired woman, the only one on her team whose name she didn't know.

"So –"  
"Um –"

They both started and stopped at the same time. Awkwardly, Karin said, "You go ahead."

The woman tried again, "So… Your name is Akimoto Haru?"

"Yeah."

"Mine is Arisawa Tatsuki." She tossed Karin a boyish smile. "Just call me Tatsuki."

Karin frowned. The name sounded oddly familiar but she couldn't quite put her finger on it.

Oblivious of Karin's puzzlement, Tatsuki commented, "It's hard for the first few days, but you get used to it."

Hard? Spotting Karin's look, Tatsuki smirked. "It's surprisingly tiring, being the bodyguard of someone who always wants to be your friend."

"Why can't we just be his friends and his bodyguards?" It sounded like a win-win situation to Karin. Do a job you like and have fun with your principal. "He seems like a kind person."

Tatsuki looked sad. "It's because he's too kind. It clouds your judgment if you get too attached." Her face darkened further, as if haunted by bad memories. "You make foolish decisions."

Karin realized that Tatsuki was right. It was unprofessional to be friends with your principal. She understood Soi Fong's cold actions a bit more. She was protecting herself by building up a wall around her. To make things easier, less painful.

On that somber note, they arrived at their lockers in the basement and parted.

It was the first time that she had come home before Renji. So many times she was used to coming home at nearly 10 pm, coming home around seven seemed strange to her.

Flopping onto the bed, Karin wondered what on earth she could do to fill up the time. Then she sat up; maybe she could do something special for Renji…

Renji came home that night to a terrible sight.

"Wh-what happened?" he asked, aghast.

Karin was sitting nonchalantly at the kitchen table, munching on a snickerdoodle. The sink overflowed with blackened pots and pans, and what looked like inedible rubble sat on the kitchen countertop. The fire alarm was dismantled, and all the windows were open.

Trying to hide the guilt she felt, Karin shrugged, "How did you cook all this time? It's actually quite hard."

Renji picked up a charred frying pan, staring at it in disbelief. In a stunned voice, he said, "I had practice back at the orphanage…" Dismayed, he looked into a chipped pot.

The only food that looked remotely nice were the snickerdoodles.

"I'll buy new kitchen stuffs. I get off early now, remember?" Karin tried to reassure Renji, who looked positively distressed after the realization that all their cookware had become unusable had hit him. When Renji did not reply, Karin felt the need to defend herself. "What, I never get angry at you when you literally make a sea of your clothes on the floor!"

Though Renji did not argue with this, he glared at the snickerdoodles, as if the unusable cookware were its fault. "If you don't know how to cook, why are the cookies in such perfect shape?"

Karin took another mouthful of cinnamon and sugar cookie. "Yuzu always baked. Cookie? They're still warm."

Renji took the proffered cookie. "Damn you, Kurosaki Karin."

"You know you love me."

…

_"You don't know the truth about him! I'm not going to go back! And Ichi-nii, don't you dare tell Yuzu where I am. She's better off if she's given me up for dead." – Kurosaki Karin_

_…_

_1 year ago – Ichigo_

…

It had been three years, but Ichigo still hadn't given up on Karin.

After Karin's disappearance, Isshin stayed more and more at Armament, burying himself in work; Yuzu determinedly took up cooking, chirping that she'd welcome Karin home with a huge feast.

Ichigo, on the other hand, blamed himself.

The day after Karin's disappearing act, Ichigo had checked his phone for the number she dialed the day before she'd left. But she'd erased it.

He should've known what Karin was planning. She had been acting slightly strange, and he should have recognized the oddness of the subtlety for what it was. He should've known when he'd saw her sneak in with grocery bags bulging with what seemed suspiciously like clothes. She had never liked shopping.

She seemed to be preparing for something. He should've predicted that Karin had been planning to run away.

The only thing in his life that had maintained his hope was Rukia, a fellow university classmate. She had speedily graduated a year before him due to her "superior intellect," as she'd snobbily put it. And she had the right of it, Ichigo thought ruefully; she'd been valedictorian at a high school elite in both academics and kendo. So naturally, she was an expert in both.

Even with her small frame, Rukia had always wanted to protect someone. And soon after Karin had disappeared, her wish came true; she'd enlisted in many places, and Ammo Co. had called her back, saying they needed a female bodyguard.

Ichigo would have despaired if Rukia had cut all contact with him due to the company she was working for, but she was adamant in still meeting him.

"What does my work have to do with my personal life? That's unprofessional, Ichigo!"

Right then and there, Ichigo had kissed her.

After two years, he had asked her to marry him. So now in a week, they would hold the engagement party. It had been the Old Man's extravagant idea, per usual. Ichigo considered resisting – who held engagement parties these days? – but at the thought that Karin might show up, he agreed, on the condition that it be an open party.

He wanted to see Karin, even if he didn't recognize her.

_'You'll come, won't you?'_

_…_

_"Why don't you understand, that as long as you're by my side, you'll be in danger? Quitting is my last act for you as your bodyguard." – 'Akimoto Haru'_

_…_

_1 year ago – The Principal_

…

He recalled her body, limbs askew, twisted into impossible angles. Nobody'd have imagined that was how she was found, the peaceful way she lay now, among flowers and garlands.

She wasn't even Catholic, he thought bitterly. She was Protestant, and would have been bored to death by all the formalities her parents were going through. Except she was already dead.

His blue eyes were blank as he stared at what had been the first true love of his life. And the last, he resolved as the coffin closed.

He closed his eyes as images of the brief love they shared ran through his mind, her running her fingers through his spiky black hair, saying how she loved the combination of his black hair and blue eyes.

His hair was no longer black. Apparently he had inherited his father's strange condition; his hair had turned white over the course of 3 days. From grief, he supposed.

He would have to dye it or something. Maybe a unique color, like blue or green or purple. People back at home would think he was a delinquent and stay away from him. That would be an improvement. Anyways, he didn't want it to be black again; he wanted to erase all traces of his paramour.

He couldn't change his blue eyes; though there was a surgery that could turn brown eyes into blue, there wasn't one to change blue into brown. He didn't want to put in colored contacts either; he had done it before and his eyes had itched until kingdom come.

He considered blinding himself, but decided against it. Not wanting to admit he was scared, he instead told himself that he could afford to keep one souvenir of the best times of his life.

What had also happened over the course of three days was that all his emotions except for a few of the seven deadly sins had drained out of him. Wrath, sloth, and… and gluttony. But then again, all normal guys were gluttons.

None of the other cardinal sins applied to him, he reasoned.

Greed didn't really apply to him. He didn't know about lust. Did that apply to him?  
He vehemently disagreed with pride. He was not proud. Never. Ever.  
And he didn't envy anyone. Envy was one thing he didn't ever do. Ever.

He strove to quash the inner voices crying 'false!' in him.

He wasn't proud, and he certainly didn't envy anyone.

No way.

All he knew was that he was angry.

Angry at his girlfriend for dying, angry that the renown Academy hadn't equipped him for protecting someone he loved, angry with his grandfather for forcing him to attend the damn Hellpit, angry with his father for allowing him to go, angry at Ammo Co. for just existing; he was angry with the whole world.

And he would take this anger out back in his home country, that had made him this way.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Le gasp! Is this a different format? Haha, I guess I just extended the time period of revealing who the heir of Ammo Co is again... :P
> 
> And I'm sorry there is such little dialogue in this chapter. Actually, more like throughout the story… It's just the only way I can progress this story a bit faster.


	20. The Bodyguard Part II Mission 5

Disclaimer: Bleach belongs to Kubo Tite.

…

**The Bodyguard**

Part II Mission 5

…

_"Don't worry. I'll only make your life a living hell." – The Principal._

_…_

_1 year ago – Karin_

_…_

"You're protecting _WHO_?" 

Karin's once spotless plan had completely backfired on her, leaving crumbs of snickerdoodle all over her face. 

The plan, was to have Renji eat a glorious dinner, gently break the news of what her promotion to A rank truly entailed, and then maybe some physical dessert. 

But here Karin was, dusting off the crumbs from her face, cursing her disastrous lack of cooking skills. If a future principal ever wanted to go backpacking and refused to eat ramen, curry or other instant snacks, she'd be in trouble. 

Well, though the plan had failed, there was no choice but for the show to go on. "Chill, man." 

Her words only served to further incense Renji. "Do I _look_ like I'll be able to stay 'chill' to you, Kurosaki Karin?" 

Karin barely kept from rolling her eyes. He was just like Ikkaku in the aspect that he called her by her full name when he was angry with her. "I'm not any happier about this than you are, Abarai." 

"You sure don't look any fucking _un_ happier about it than I do!" Renji was absolutely seething. 

Karin had many faults, and being quite indelicate was one of them. "Look. I'm not quitting. Deal with it." After a pause, she continued, "Oh, and after I made a mess of the kitchen, I told Ganju that we'd meet him for dinner." 

Renji's face reddened to match the roots of his hair, but he could not contradict that decision; the kitchen was in no condition to be of any immediate use. 

Karin glanced at her watch and delivered the finishing blow. "And the meeting's around 9. We have fifteen minutes to get there." 

…

_"Why are you carousing about this place? Do you have any idea how dangerous– don't tell me you work here... Gin!" – Kurosaki Karin_

…

1 year ago – Gin

…

Gin bowed to his new employer. His employer leaned back in his chair, examining the silver haired former preceptor.

"I am glad you returned to work for my company. I was afraid you'd refuse."

Per usual, Gin's fox smile was inscrutable. "Why'd ya think that? I wasn't good at spying? I think I'd be rather good at this double agent thing."

Gin's employer smiled, lacing his fingers. "Really? For a while, I'd thought you'd switched sides. I had the impression that you were hiding things from me."

Smile widening, Gin answered, "Now I'm hurt. How could I betray the guy who took me off the streets when I was a kid?" There was a gleam of pale blue visible between his silver bangs.

"I'll follow you closely. To the end."

…

"You found me, huh? Go ahead, scold me, get angry with me all you want. I deserve it." – Kurosaki Karin

…

1 year ago – Ichigo

…

He fidgeted as tailors measured him.

"Why'd the old man have to decide at the last moment that we'd have to wear custom made clothing? Why can't we just go out and buy ready-made clothes?" Ichigo complained. The tailors looked long-suffering as well; they'd dealt with the Kurosaki children before. Only Yuzu had been tolerant.

Rukia looked on at Ichigo being measured, amused. "Kurosaki Ichigo, squirming like a worm while getting his measurements? I should have brought my camera."

"It'll be your turn soon enough." Ichigo snapped.

At this, all mirth disappeared from Rukia's face. Ichigo knew how ticklish she was…

Seeing Rukia's expression, Ichigo tried to appease her. "I – er, um…" Unfortunately, Ichigo was not very coherent when he was flustered.

So silence reigned between the two and the nervous tailors caught in between. They worked furiously; they did not want to be present when the bomb went off.

But soon enough, Rukia broke the silence.

"Ichigo."

He perked up at her soft tone. Thank goodness she wasn't planning to beat him up… But Rukia was eyeing him with her dark eyes, a face expression one she wore before she asked a question that took her a lot of brass to voice.

"Is it possible to convince your father to allow my former boss to attend?"

After the question sunk in to his mind, Ichigo grimaced.

Rukia's former boss. Ukitake Juushirou… the President and CEO of Ammo Co. Kurosaki Armament's biggest rival.

He heaved a sigh. "Well, technically, he can come. Since the engagement's an open party."

Severely, Rukia admonished, "It's bad manners for someone of high ranking to attend a public function without any forewarning, even if it's an open party." Seeing Ichigo's resigned look, she continued to hammer in the point, "Besides, Kaien-san says Kaichou wants to attend but is hesitating because he knows how much your father hates him."

The tailors, having finished taking Ichigo's measurements, nervously skittered back to allow Ichigo to go to his future fiancée.

Looking straight into Rukia's eyes, Ichigo promised, "I'll tell him. Even if he says no, he'll know about your boss coming." His mouth twisted into an evil grin. "Now, it's your turn with the tailors, isn't it?"

…

"Look, I will give you enough money to pig off and fatten that scrawny body of yours for the rest of your life. Just quit. Resign. Fold. Put up a white flag. For God's sake, just retire!" – The Principal

…

1 year ago – Karin

…

Grumbling, Karin got off the apartment elevator as she headed toward her home. She had bought all the cookware that Renji had specifically instructed her to get. "Just why are Fissler pots so damn expensive…!" She held a small fortune in stainless steel in a box. And that hold was slipping. " _And_ heavy, god dammit!" She shifted the weight back and found herself careening backwards. She squeezed her eyes shut. _I'm doomed if the Fissler pots get dented…_

But before she came to contact with the ground, strong arms wrapped around her waist.

"What, you're _helping_ me now?" Karin said, annoyed.

"Hey, I _could_ just let go now, would you like that?"

"You wouldn't dare, Abarai Renji."

"Oh yeah?"

Karin's heart leapt into her mouth as Renji briefly let go before catching her again.

"And that's punishment for wrecking all the pots." She could just hear the smirk on his face.

"Just wait 'til I'm through with you, Abarai…" Karin snarled as Renji wheeled her to their front door.

"I'm looking forward to it." Renji whispered into her ear as he reached down to unlock the door.

Karin grit her teeth. "Ohh no. You're sleeping on the floor today, Abarai." She slammed the heavy box down on the counter and turned to glare at him.

Raising an eyebrow, Renji countered, "Oh? Even if I make you a kick ass meal?"

Though she weakened a little bit at that, Karin fought not to let it show. "…We'll see about that. Your food had better be fit for kings!"

Renji snorted. They had both long since realized that Karin was far from a picky eater. Knowing what he was thinking, Karin quickly added, "And I'm gonna tune up my taste buds for this one!"

During dinner, Karin picked up a cube of tofu with her chopsticks into a tofu and held it; it was just firm enough to not break. She put it into her mouth; and it was just soft enough to be tasty. She had to admit it was good.

But a particular thought came back to mind; it had been itching at her for the past few days. She put the chopsticks down, and Renji looked over.

"Something wrong with the food?"

Karin shook her head. "No, the food's great."

Regardless, Renji continued to watch Karin, knowing that something was wrong. And soon enough he knew why.

"Hey, did you know about my brother's engagement?"

So it was about that. Slowly, Renji answered, "Yeah… But…" Suddenly realizing what she was going to say, he groaned. "You're not planning to go, are you? It's an open party, but – "

Karin stared out into open space. "Whether I want to go or not, my boss wants to go, it seems."

"Why?" Renji asked incredulously. "Why the hell would he want to go to his rival's son's engagement party?

"Because Ichi-nii's fiancée was his former bodyguard."

Slapping his forehead with the palm of his hand, Renji groaned, "Of all coincidences…" He looked at Karin reproachfully, as if it were her fault. "How the seven hells did your brother get your old man to agree to the match? Does he not know of your brother's girlfriend's previous job?"

Picking up her chopsticks again, Karin poked the fish in front of her. "No idea. I don't think Ol' Beardy wouldn't know about it though, since Kuchiki Rukia was a part of Kaichou's personal bodyguard team.

"Kuchiki. I've heard that name from somewhere." Renji shoved a tofu into his mouth.

"Maybe because she's from a rich family." Karin said dryly. "And maybe because Kuchiki runs the biggest architectural company ever."

Renji grunted.

"Well, for your sake, I hope your boss doesn't go."

…

_"The less you know, the better. I'm not the little girl who needs protection anymore." – Kurosaki Karin_

_…_

_1 year ago – Ichigo_

…

"You don't have to repeat yourself."

Ichigo crossed his arms. "So that's a yes?"

Isshin imitated his son and crossed his arms – generally an unconscious body gesture that a body makes when the individual is feeling defensive. That, or a conscious body gesture to assert power over the opponent.

It was impossible to discern which was which in this situation.

"Well, I agreed it would be an open party. And I can't take back my word."

"So that's a yes." Ichigo said again, but this time, it was a statement, not a question.

"…Yes." Isshin said reluctantly. "But that doesn't mean I'll be happy about it."

"It doesn't matter whether you're happy or not. Remember, this was Rukia's former boss. Like it or not, you'll have to be civil." Ichigo turned his back and made to leave. "Plus, you'll be in public."

Ichigo generally wasn't the type to like getting the last word, but this was his dad who had just given into his demands. He could indulge a little.

Rukia was waiting for the news at the café, and her eyes lit up when she saw Ichigo. He plopped down on a chair, picking up Rukia's drink and taking a gulp from it. "Oyaji gave the green light."

A wide grin spread across Rukia's face and she leapt up and hugged Ichigo. "That's great! I'll contact Kaichou right away!"

Ichigo hugged her back and kissed the top of her head. "Anything for you, midget." He laughed as Rukia bonked his head.

…

_"Care to crack that hard-ass attitude and drink with me? You kinda look like you need it." – The Principal_

_…_

_1 year ago – Karin_

…

"Yes, sir."

Juushirou was ever polite, even on the phone, but he had upped his already polished manners to the max when on this particular phone call. "Yes. Yes, sir." And though polite, with each verbal affirmation, Juushirou's face fell further and further.

"So he will be spending time at Kyoto for the next year?" He was now obviously struggling to keep a light voice. "I see, sir. I will still get to see him on breaks?" Karin hadn't thought Juushirou's face could fall even further, but apparently she had been wrong.

Putting his phone down, Juushirou sighed heavily. To everyone and no one, he said, "My son has come back to Japan…"

And from his tone, Karin doubted that was good news. She knew it was unprofessional, but to her knowledge, her principal was nowhere near a normal principal. She stated, "You don't sound happy." Soi Fong shot Karin a glare, but Miyako shot her an encouraging smile.

Juushirou brightened a bit at his newest bodyguard finally showing an interest in him. "According to my father-in-law, my son will be staying in his estate in Kyoto, attending Kyoto University." He gave a sad smile.

Karin had no words of comfort for the man; she only felt envious of the son who was on the receiving end of so much love and affection.

Almost time for dinner (and the end of their shift), Juushirou received another phone call, pertaining to what seemed like much happier news.

"Can I really?" Juushirou was now smiling from ear to ear, and Karin began to doubt that he had really been sad before. Now he looked like a child let loose in a candy store. "It won't cause any trouble?"

Kaien, who knew Juushirou best, guessed what the phone call was about. "Rukia got permission for you to go to the ceremony." He smiled wryly and gave a good-natured roll of the eyes when Juushirou gave a huge smile in reply. Kaien sighed lightly and called out to the others, "Folks! Meet after the switch!"

So after their shift ended, the eight of them sat at a booth with drinks in front of them. Karin had merely asked for a lemonade; she had long since found out at The Academy she hated the taste of alcohol. She only drank it for the atmosphere, and she was definitely not in a celebratory mood.

At Karin's non-alcoholic order, Soi Fong gave her a disdainful look. Karin said offhandedly, "I'm seventeen."

Kaien added, "Besides, if we're discuss the strategy of protecting our Kaichou at the engagement, should we have clear minds."

Yumichika sullenly put his *kamikaze down.

_[*kamikaze: means many things like godwind, or suicide pilots from WWII… but in this case, it refers to a cocktail drink]_

"Can't we just use the usual method when he attends parties?" queried the blonde guy, whom Karin now recognized as Rojuurou.

Miyako countered, "But this party's going to be taking place outside."

"We can't just mill around or behind Kaichou like an aggressive cloud." As Asuka put his two cents in, Rojuurou sighed. "Then what do you suggest?"

"Hide out in trees?"  
"Stupid, there won't be any trees there! It's a plaza!"  
"Relax, I was just joking."  
"Your sense of humor sucks."  
" _Focus._ Should we stake out there ahead of time?"  
"That's obvious… But what about _during_ the ceremony itself?"

Tatsuki looked over to Karin. "Oii~ greenhorn. You have any ideas?"

Karin, too busy trying to get over the horror of actually having to attend her brother's engagement party, blurted out randomly, "Disguise."

Soi Fong put down her martini and laced her fingers in approval. "That's an idea." For once, she was agreeing with Karin.

"That's cliché, is what it is." Yumichika said snobbishly.

Tapping her finger impatiently against the glass of the table, Tatsuki asked irritably, "Any better ideas, Mister Genius?"

"Since it's an open party, we could go as guests." Yumichika shrugged.

Tatsuki downed her draft beer in one shot and slammed the tankard down. "That's just another form of disguise!"

"Come to think of it, we could go in different forms of disguises; guests, caterers…"  
"But it'll seem odd if Kaichou shows up without any bodyguards…  
"So two or three of us will have to escort him."

While the others further sipped their drinks and discussed the plan, Karin was brainstorming as many ways as getting out of this as possible.

_Call in sick? Within the second week? That's a surefire way of getting fired… Say I feel queasy at parties? Too many people? Agoraphobia? But a bodyguard isn't supposed to show fear. What do I –_

Kaien's loud voice rambled through her thoughts. "Okay, to keep things simple, people disguised as guests will sign in as couples. Miyako and I will go together. Yumichika will go with…"

He glanced at Soi Fong, who glared daggers back. "…Okay then… It'll be you, Tatsuki." Kaien finished. "Rojuurou, you're the tallest of us, so if you don't mind, we don't want them to think our protective force to be weak… and Haru, you should also – "

Realizing what her mentor would say, Karin's eyes became the size of saucers and quickly said, "I'll go as a caterer."

Though Kaien looked a bit puzzled, to Karin's immense relief, he nodded.

She was sure to come face to face with her brother if she stuck right next to her Principal. And possibly Old Beardy and Yuzu, too. Much safer to go as a caterer, if she had to go. That way she could stay on the move and avoid them without catching any attention.

Kaien glanced at Soi Fong again, and she shot him another evil eye. "I will stay by Kaichou's side." she said firmly.

Rolling his eyes behind her back, Kaien turned to Asuka and instructed, "Okay, then you be a caterer with Haru. Any objections?"

Everybody, save for Karin, shook their heads. Karin, on the inside, was thinking, Sheizers.

Renji did not take the news well, but it was too late. Ammo Co. had already contacted the catering company that had been hired for the ceremony and planted Karin and Asuka into the employee list.

On the day of, the Asuka and Karin leapt off the van with the other caterers and helped bring out the food and drinks.

The plaza was in the process of being decorated, but it had already transformed from stoic and orderly, to flowery and cutesy beyond recognition. Ichi-nii obviously had not gotten any say in the décor.

Sure enough, Karin spotted the woman flipping a pink-dyed pigtail as she ordered people around.

"Man. I had no idea this place could change to this extent."

Karin was only just able to resist turning around at the familiar voice.

She was sharing a space with her brother for the first time in three years. She held back the urge to run to him, to feel safe and completely at home. The urge doubled when Karin heard her twin's clear voice ring out. "Riruka nee-chan really does have the talent to make things cuter."

Dokugamine Riruka. No wonder. That designer seemed to overflow with femininity; by no means graceful or elegant, but like Yuzu had said, _cute_. But _cutesiness_ , was also in the eye of the beholder. And Karin's eyes were being savaged by her surroundings; she pulled a face.

But beyond the exterior decoration, Karin also had to get as far away from her family as possible. Once there was enough distance between her and her family, Karin risked looking back. There was an ache in her heart as she saw her brother's bright orange hair. She finger-combed her bangs over her eyes in order to avoid recognition for as long as possible.

Noticing this, Asuka, who had meandered over to her, asked drily, "What's on your mind, Pretty Boy the Second?"

For once, Karin wasn't offended by that nickname. Before she had to make up a vague answer, guests began to arrive, forcing the caterers to retreat until the proper time for their entrance came.

Then, Miyako and Kaien arrived. Despite her dire situation, Karin had to admire the picture they made. Miyako was stunning in a golden evening dress, Kaien looking smart in a black suit with a matching golden vest and tie inside his jacket.

As they casually wandered over to the other bodyguards, Asuka teased, "People'd think that the engagement party is being held in _your_ honor."

Cheeks rather red, Kaien took a swipe at Asuka, who easily dodged. Waving a finger at Kaien, Asuka gave him a smug smile. "Now now. That's not how a proper guest would react."

Karin couldn't help but be amused at their antics. Miyako came over to Karin and straightened her vest. "Relax, Haru. 9.9 out of 10, nothing will happen, so just sit back and enjoy the party."

Grinning down at Miyako, Karin whispered, " _You're_ a guest so you can enjoy the party. _I'm_ a caterer."

Seeing how close Miyako was standing to Karin, Kaien walked over to between them and firmly pushed them apart. "Well then." He glared at Karin. "Don't you caterers have a job to do?"

As if on cue, a voice called, "Caterers! Gather 'round!"

Asuka rolled his eyes and hooked his arm around Karin's neck. "C'mon Haru. Let's leave those two lovebirds to slack off. We have a job to do."

A job indeed. To protect her principal while avoiding being seen by her family.


	21. The Bodyguard Part II Mission 6

Disclaimer: Bleach belongs to Kubo Tite.

…

**The Bodyguard**

Part II Mission 6

…

" _Okay, since you told me to be honest with you… I hate your guts." – 'Akimoto Haru'_

…

_1 year ago – The Principal_

…

"Ah~ so you attend *Kyodai?"

_[*Kyodai: shortened version of Kyoto Daigaku (aka Kyoto University)]_

The man couldn't have looked less interested in the attractive young woman before him. Feigning obliviousness to his disinterest, the black haired girl stated, "I heard that you came from overseas. How did you like it? I studied in Germany for a while. You know I'm half German, right?" She laughed.

"Bambietta. That's supposed to be a German name?" He raised an eyebrow.

Bambietta shrugged. "My mother thought it sounded German enough."

Looking at the young woman through half lidded eyes, he said dully, "Sounds more like a mangled Italian version of Bambi."

Bambietta pouted. "That's not the point." She propped her chin on a slender hand. "So I heard you double major in business and engineering?"

The twenty-year-old abruptly stood up. "This is a waste of my time. Will you or won't you?"

Crossing her legs, Bambietta openly showed her irritation for the first time. "What, sleep with you?" She pretended to ponder. "Hmm…" She smiled widely and stood up, leaning in close to his face. "Well, even though you're the biggest prick I've ever met… you're such a stud, it makes up for that." She leaned up to give him a peck on the lips. Fluttering her eyelashes at him, Bambietta whispered, "So yes. I'll give you a night to remember. And maybe you'll lose a bit of that cockiness, who knows?"

…

" _What's wrong with me staying here? You think I'll come onto you or something? Don't worry. I don't swing that way." – The Principal_

…

_1 year ago – Karin_

…

Balancing a trayful of martinis, Karin wove her way through a small section of the crowd that was milling around to a classical piece she didn't recognize. As if she could recognize any classical music at all.

After she and Asuka had confirmed the arrival of their principal, they had diffused into the crowd. Karin carefully avoided the platform and the front tables where the couple of honor reigned, but her sense of duty forced her to orbit around her principal, who was never far from the couple. He hugged Rukia, congratulated them, and even shook hands with Isshin, who gave a huge smile, one which only people close to him would know was forced.

Karin offered drinks to guests who took the drinks without even glancing at her, which suited her just fine. But when she wandered over to Miyako, she saw that unlike before, the woman now wore a dark expression, making her look just as worried as Karin felt about her proximity with her family.

In the pretense of handing Miyako a martini, Karin whispered, "What's wrong?"

Tight lipped, Miyako jerked her head towards a black-haired man who stood half a head taller than every other man at the party. At first, Karin didn't see what was wrong with him, besides the fact that he was dressed a bit casually for an engagement party, in suspenders and no jacket, as well as the oddity of him reading a book.

But when he looked up, she saw a scar on his forehead. His eyes locked on hers. Though brown, they were not warm like Renji's; they were stone-cold. He smiled, but the smile did not reach his eyes.

Karin was tempted to stare him down, but she looked away first. In her line of work, it wasn't any good to attract attention. "I'll keep an eye on him," Karin grimly promised.

Once again, Karin looked around, cursing the fact that she stood several inches shorter than the men and unable to see the vista of faces within the plaza. She surreptitiously took several steps up the stairs nearby and looked out among the crowd.

She saw a flash of silver hair; that must be her princi… Karin did a double take.

The hair was short. And that build… Karin felt her heart stop. The figure turned around, and her suspicions were confirmed.

It was Gin.

He turned towards her; and though she couldn't see his eyes, she somehow  _knew_  he was looking at her.

Why was he here?

She panicked when he started to move towards her. She ducked into the crowd, but it was too late.

"Any drinks left?"

Karin wanted to scream in frustration when she heard the familiar drawl. Why, why, why,  _why_? What vendetta did fate have against her? Had she committed some unforgivable sin in her past life?

She turned around and smiled like her teeth hurt. "Hello, Preceptor Gin."

Gin's smile widened. "Aw, drop the title already. You aint a student no more." He cocked his head a bit to examine Karin. "You surprised?"

Barely keeping her hand from trembling, she held out the tray for Gin to take a glass from. "You could say that."

"Part time job?" he teased, as he took a martini glass.

His playfulness made Karin relax, albeit minimally. "You know full well what company I work for." She glared at him accusingly. "Were you one of the recommendation team?"

Gin looked up towards the sky. "I wonder now." He brushed his bangs back, and then reached over to brush Karin's bangs back as well. "Time for a haircut?"

Although not so nervous as to flinch away from his touch, Karin still raked her bangs back over her eyes so as to avoid unnecessary attention. "Maybe…" The tall man Miyako had pointed out to her passed by again. "Or not…" she said, with narrowed eyes trained on the man as he walked by.

Gin followed her gaze curiously. "Lookin' at that tall guy over there?"

Karin quickly tried to shrug it off. "Just looking around in general."

Not buying it, Gin commented, "He's Tsukishima. I'd steer clear of him if I were ya." Karin made a vague sound, and Gin gave her a look, his smile considerably smaller. "I won't ask what you're doing here if you don't ask me."

Mouth twisting, Karin muttered, "Not fair… You  _know_  what I'm here for."

"Naw, not really. I dunno whether you're here for personal or professional reasons." Karin glimpsed a glint of blue. "Or a bit of both."

Cheeks reddening at how close he was to the mark, Karin turned to go. "I should get going."

Gin too, turned away. "Right. Your part time job. Gotcha."

Karin almost wanted to turn back, to ask Gin all the questions bursting out of her; what was he doing here? How did he know the name of the mysterious man? Had something happened to his job at The Academy? Would she ever see him again? But she bit her tongue and moved away.

Though brief, the encounter left Karin feeling thoroughly worn out. But she glanced around again, and this time saw Tatsuki and Yumichika. Karin made her way to them.

Tatsuki looked surprisingly sexy in a black dress with a plunging back and a skirt slit up to mid-thigh. "Wow, you look great."

Looking suspiciously at Karin, Tatsuki said dryly, "You sound surprised." She looked down at her dress, and sighed. "It doesn't suit me, and it's so unpractical."

Karin shrugged. "Dresses suit you more than you think." Yumichika looked as elegant as usual in a designer suit with a purple vest, tie, and handkerchief. He even had a dusting of eyeshadow, Karin noted with mild distaste.

"What about me?" Yumichika puffed out his chest like a peacock.

"Yeah, you too." Karin said dismissively. Ignoring his offended look, Karin pointed the tall man out to them as well. "Hey. That tall guy. Tsukishima. Have you heard of him?"

Still pouting, Yumichika gave a negative. "But he looks unpleasantly pleasant."

Tatsuki added, "Guys who smile too much are bad news." She shot a glance at the foot of the podium where Karin's petite predecessor and brother stood. "I'll watch out for him as I go and congratulate them."

The tall man named Tsukishima started to move away from them, closer to Juushirou.

"I'll watch from around here. Signal me if you see him do anything suspicious." Karin hastily said as Tatsuki nodded and moved in the same direction.

Karin watched from afar like a hawk as Tsukishima circled around the couple and Juushirou like a bird of prey. She couldn't tell who, if anybody, his target was; her family or her principal.

But then she saw Tatsuki pound on Ichigo's back and hug Rukia in turn. In that order. Ichigo first, then Rukia.

Karin thought that her eyes had briefly deceived her.

That wasn't right. Tatsuki only knew Rukia. Why would she…?

Her heart plummeted. Arisawa Tatsuki.  _Tatsuki._ The name had always niggled at her mind, like a loose tooth.

It was only now Karin remembered the incident back in 5th grade.

_Ichigo had come in battered and bruised. Karin had been mildly surprised._

" _Well this is rare. Is this where you say, 'you should see the other guy'?" Karin queried._

_Ichigo collapsed on the couch with a huge sigh. "Actually, no. It was a girl." Karin raised her eyebrows. "…And she doesn't have a single scratch." He stared at the ceiling for a bit and then amended, "Well, that's because I make it a policy not to hit girls, no matter how scary they are."_

_Karin snorted, giving way to what she thought of Ichigo's chivalry. "No matter how scary the girl was, you should've been able to dodge her attacks… Who was this fearsome girl?"_

_Grimacing as he gingerly tested his split lip, Ichigo answered, "Tatsuki, a classmate. A karate champion. I've told you about her before."_

" _Oh, that karate girl." Karin prodded at the bruise on his cheekbone. "Any particular reason why you became her punching bag this time? What did you do to piss her off this time?"_

_Swatting her hand away, Ichigo groaned, "Nothing…"_

After finally remembering why Tatsuki's name had sounded familiar, Karin felt like she had walked straight into a nest of vipers.

First joining the team that protected the president of Ammo Co. himself; then finding out her brother's fiancée had been her predecessor; then being forced to follow her principal to the engagement ceremony… meeting Gin at the ceremony… and now that one of her co-workers had been one of her brother's friends.

Just after Tatsuki had greeted the couple, the music stopped and an announcer stepped on the stage; when Karin saw the identity of the announcer, she nearly dropped the tray, martinis and all.

…

"… _I'm not a Kurosaki anymore." – Kurosaki Karin_

…

_1 year ago – Ichigo_

…

Ichigo looked around ruefully.  _Riruka strikes again…_  At least Rukia loved it; he could sense it in her bouncing steps, if not in her huge eyes. If Rukia was happy, that was good enough for him. The Karin he knew, however, would stay as far as she could from the cutesy deco.  _So much for seeing Karin._

When Isshin saw Ichigo, he immediately put him in a headlock.

"Ow ow ow ow!" Ichigo elbowed Isshin in the jaw and was able to escape from the hold. Massaging his throat, Ichigo asked irritably, "Oyaji! The hell was  _that_  for?" Several guests glanced their way, alarmed, and Isshin immediately grinned widely at them. "Two-face…" Ichigo muttered.

With the toothy grin still on his face, Isshin hissed, "You're late!"

Presently, both father and son heard Rukia exclaim, "Kaichou!"

Vaguely registering that was not how she addressed his father and realizing whom she must be talking to, Ichigo resisted the urge to facepalm. As Juushiro entered his line of sight, Ichigo could _feel_ the heat radiating from his father. From the beam on his face, obviously, Rukia's former boss did not reciprocate Isshin's hatred. That or he was doing an excellent job of hiding it.

"Congratulations, Rukia-kun, Ichigo-san." He turned to the glowering Isshin and held out a hand. "How long has it been, Isshin-san? It's good to see you well."

Pasting a too-wide-to-be-real grin on his face, Isshin answered, "About a year and 56 days? You look very pale. And even bonier than before."

Juushirou seemed to take this at face value. "Oh… I didn't realize that I looked that unwell. Well, I just wanted to attend this ceremony no matter what. Rukia's like my own daughter."

"Haha!" Isshin's laugh too, seemed too loud to be real. "Well, she'll be  _my_  daughter now." He didn't seem to get the reaction he wanted, as Juushirou nodded happily.

"Well, I don't want to take up too much of your time; you should go to greet the other guests."

Once Juushirou was out of earshot, Isshin growled out of the corner of his mouth, "Where were you for the rehearsal? Didn't you want to hold this ceremony yourself?"

Ichigo's mouth twisted. "No. That was  _you._ I just put a condition on how the ceremony would be held."

Grouchily, Isshin said, "Well don't blame me if the tabloids put you down as an idiot."

"Rukia-chan, do you really want to marry this idiot?"

Smiling, Rukia bantered back, "His idiocy is one of his charms."

"Hey!"

Isshin harrumphed. "Well, we'll have the MC go on stage at 4, and then you'll take Rukia on stage and say a toast before you cut the cake. That'll be easy for even  _you_ to remember, Ichigo. I hope you have a speech ready. "

"Yeah yeah, gotcha, Oyaji." Ichigo wasn't too chuffed about his so-called "speech"; he could wing it. "C'mon, let's go Rukia."

Glaring daggers at his son, Isshin called out to Rukia, "Keep that kid in line, Rukia-chan."

Waving, Rukia called back, "That's one of my top priorities, right up there with getting engaged!"

"I'll be counting on you, then. I'll be sitting over at the table with your brother and grandfather!"

Ichigo glared at Rukia, who was now thanking the people who were congratulating them on their engagement. "You never told me you got along so well with my dad."

Rukia crossed her arms. "You never asked."

Ichigo rolled his eyes. Rukia returned to accepting congratulations from all around them. As Ichigo too, started to absently thank guests for attending the engagement ceremony, despite himself, he began to look around for a familiar face.

And he found one.

"Tatsuki!"

Rukia twirled around at the name and echoed Ichigo. Tatsuki put up a hand to greet them. "Yo. Been a while." She grinned cheekily and slapped Ichigo's back (he grimaced) and then she turned to Rukia to hug her.

Rukia said, "I was wondering where all the other bodyguards were when I saw Kaichou. Are Kaien-san and Miyako-san here? Where are the others?"

Tatsuki rolled her eyes. "Yes, yes, Kaien and Miyako are here as 'guests' and so is Ayasegawa. And yours truly, obviously. I keep thinking Ayasegawa would look better in this than I do."

Rukia assured, "You look great, Tatsuki."

Ichigo shrugged. "Yeah, a dress suits you more than you think."

Snorting, Tatsuki said, "That's the second time I've heard that today." Seeing Rukia's inquisitive look, Tatsuki answered, "Your replacement said it too."

"Oh, the one Kaien-san was always talking about…?" Rukia looked around once again. "Where – "

Tatsuki jabbed her thumb somewhere over her shoulder. "He and Asuka came as caterers."

Ichigo deadpanned. "Oi oi. You guys even infiltrated the catering company? What do you take this party for? An assassination fest?"

Tatsuki dismissed him with a wave of her hand. "Cool it, Carrot head. It's just a precaution. I've only had to really fight 3 times since I joined the team."

"Fighting's not all you do as a bodyguard." Rukia pointedly reminded her.

Rolling her eyes, Tatsuki said, "I know, I know, an 'Executive Protector has to  _protect_  his principal from all potential harm.' Kaien's already hammered that into my ears."

The classical music faded, as did the guests' socializing as they realized that the ceremony was starting. The people who weren't already sitting seated themselves at various flowery tables. Rukia grabbed Ichigo's hand and dragged him over to where

"Ah. Ah. Testing, testing."

A huge squeal sounded from the mic, eliciting a wince from every guest. Then he tapped the surface of the mic; an amplified tapping sound. Seeing his father's rapidly darkening face expression, when the platinum blonde man leaned in to blow air into the mic, Ichigo wanted to tell the man to stop if he wanted to die a natural death. But too late, Ichigo winced along with every other guest at the amplified blowing sound that made it sound like they were holding the ceremony in a tornado.

Oblivious of Isshin's wrath, the MC said, "There. Perfect."

"First, I'd like to welcome you to Ichigo-san's engagement ceremony on behalf of the Kurosaki and Kuchiki families! My name is Urahara Kisuke, and I'll be the MC for today."

_Urahara Kisuke…_ Ichigo thought the name sounded really familiar.

As Ichigo's facial features literally arrange themselves into a question mark, Rukia answered his silent question in a low voice. "He's the headmaster of The Academy."

Ichigo recognized the name. "The Academy? As in…"

"The most prestigious bodyguard academy – "

Urahara Kisuke's amplified voice drowned their conversation out.

"We are here today to celebrate an upcoming union of two individuals we know very well. Kurosaki Ichigo and Kuchiki Rukia."

Who opened up a engagement ceremony like that? Nevertheless, Ichigo settled down in his chair, expecting a long speech.

"Please give a warm round of applause to welcome them onto the stage."

Or not.

So much for a long speech.

Exchanging doubtful looks with Rukia, Ichigo stood up. He gave his hand to Rukia to help her up, and as she stood up, he bent over to whisper in her ear, "Who chose this guy?"

Rukia gave a barely visible shrug. "Probably your father."

That Urahara guy was giving a huge smile and a thumbs-up towards Isshin's direction.

Ichigo led Rukia up to the front and mounted the stage. He barely refrained from rolling his eyes when Urahara motioned towards the podium. Reluctantly, Ichigo stood at the podium and cleared his throat. He leaned closer to the mic.

"Um. Hey." Ichigo paused; he swore he could hear crickets in the background.

…

" _You're my 'executive protector.' So save me from being bored out of my skull." – The Principal_

…

_1 year ago – Karin_

…

"Ah, ah. Testing, testing."

A huge screech sounded from the mic, but Karin barely noticed it; she was too busy staring at the man onstage.

" – My name is Urahara Kisuke, and I'll be the MC for today."

What was that accursed headmaster doing here? Was she doomed to be haunted by staff members of The Academy for the rest of her life? Sure, he wasn't wearing his doubly accursed hat at the moment… But this was turning out to be a day filled with a series of very, very foul events.

Karin scrambled back to the catering truck for refuge. She placed the tray of empty glasses down and stared blankly down at the cart of hors d'oeuvres.

"Hey. Are you getting a tray or what?" An irritated voice sounded from her right.

Looking up and seeing a man scowling at her, Karin said dully, "Oh, sorry." Glowering at her after her less-than-satisfactory apology, the man snatched up a tray of deviled eggs and stalked away.

Karin couldn't have cared less; her older brother had started to talk. It was the first time in years she had heard his voice.

"It's the first time in a while that I've talked in public, so sorry if I botch it." The guests laughed and Karin choked out a cough. No need to worry about that; her brother had always been good at impromptu speeches. It was voicing his emotions that he had been bad at. "Here I am, in my 20's, shaking in my shoes even when I'm talking at my own engagement party. Some things never change, huh?"

Karin gave a watery chuckle, wondering whether Ichigo still fell asleep with his head at the footboard.

" – she may come from a wealthy family, she may be smart, she may be beautiful, but that's not why I… no,  _we –_  chose each other. She's a little stubborn," the short woman shot Ichigo an mock annoyed look as the audience laughed, "But that's what makes her perfect to me. She's supported me through the hardest times of my life. And  _I…_  – I have no idea what she saw in me at all – "

As the audience laughed, Karin gazed at her brother's happy grin, filled with odd feelings as her older brother gave his speech.  _Ichi-nii's an adult now. He'll be happily married soon._

Urahara's perky voice poked through her thoughts. "Now, now, it's time to cut the cake!"

As Rukia picked up the cake-knife, Karin tore her eyes away from the couple and picked up the tray of salmon rolls hors d'oeuvres as well. Checking to see if the notepad she would take down orders in was still in her pocket, she made for a table at the back.

She casually glanced at the table near the front where her principal sat at. Her blood ran cold when she saw the tall man named Tsukishima seated right next to him.

Apparently, Juushirou had deemed it as rude manners to the hosts to have his every step followed by his bodyguards, so Rojuurou and Soifon both stood at the edge of the plaza. Tatsuki and Yumichika sat two tables back, too far to protect Juushirou. Miyako and Kaien sat at a table even further back. Asuka had been assigned another table.

That left it to Karin to protect Juushirou.

It would be fine if she kept her back to her family's table, Karin reassured herself.

So Karin approached table three, where Juushirou sat. A caterer looking extremely intimidated by the people he would serve hovered near the table. Karin leant close to him and muttered, "Don't worry, I'll handle this table. You take table 25."

Casting her a grateful look, the relieved caterer skittered off to the table Karin was assigned to.

Smiling more confidently than she felt, Karin placed down the salmon rolls in front of each guest.

She lingered after she had passed out the hors d'oeuvres, but Tsukishima showed no signs of hostility towards Juushirou.

After most of the people had cleared their plates, Karin quietly asked Juushirou if he was done with his course; when he nodded, she took his plate; she followed suit for other guests around the table, who had nearly finished their plates. For a nanosecond, she paused before she asked passed over Tsukishima – he had barely eaten.

"Excuse me. I'm finished here."

Surprised, Karin briefly met his cold brown eyes. She didn't bother putting on a fake smile. "Well then… sir. I'll take your plate." Frowning down at the barely touched dish of salmon rolls, Karin made her way back to the catering truck to pick up entrées.

Again, Tsukishima didn't touch his dish. Though Karin was not a real caterer, the untouched food was beginning to annoy her. On the last course, Karin asked, "Is the food not matching to your taste?"

Tsukishima smiled. "I'm just not very hungry today. But I think I would like dessert."

Karin twisted out a grimace of a smile. "As you please." She stomped off. The dessert was shaved ice, topped with fresh fruit, tapioca pearls as well as little bits of mochi. Just looking at it made Karin's mouth water. In fact, all the caterers looked long suffering whilst ferrying back and forth the shaved ice.

But Tsukishima was not doing anything suspicious. Karin had thought herself a good judge of character, but this time, she thought as she passed out the shaved ice, she may have been wrong.

But just as she was about to turn to leave, she saw Tsukishima's hand near the shaved ice. Juushirou's shaved ice. She was hit by a sudden realization. Not thinking about etiquette, her hand shot out to grip the spoon before Juushirou could.

"Excuse me."

She shoved the shaved ice into her mouth and swallowed, without even tasting it. At first, it seemed fine, but suddenly the world spun around. Karin's last thought was,  _'I hope this doesn't ruin Ichi-nii's engagement.'_  before she hit the ground.


	22. The Bodyguard Part II Mission 7

Disclaimer: Bleach belongs to Kubo Tite.

…

 **The Bodyguard**  
Part II Mission 7

…

_"Look, Ichi-nii, at this rate, you're going to wreck my 4 years worth of hellish work in less than 4 days." – Kurosaki Karin_

_…_

_1 year ago – Ichigo_

_…_

The caterer for the table next to theirs had collapsed. Ichigo saw the president of Ammo Co. leap to his feet, a shocked look on his face. The bodyguards that Rukia's former boss had temporarily banished came over with dark expressions on their faces.

Filled with a mixture of curiosity, worry, and irritation that a caterer would collapse at his engagement party, Ichigo stood up to go over as well.

The frail looking president was stronger than he looked; he could haul the caterer up –

Ichigo froze.

The caterer looked like Karin. An older, more rugged and god forbid somewhat more masculine version of her, but Karin nonetheless. He looked to see if his father had seen, but Isshin remained disinterested in the commotion.

"Oyaji – "

"Leave it. Looks like Ukitake's cronies have a handle on it."

Clearly, Isshin had no intention of involving himself. Giving up on his father, Ichigo tried to make his way there on his own, but the bodyguards had already borne the Karin look-alike away into the crowd.

"Wait! Karin – "

Rukia too, had gotten to her feet, but due to her short height, couldn't see what Ichigo saw. Confused, she turned to him. "Ichigo?"

Ichigo looked down at Rukia, at a loss. "I… just saw Karin."

Putting a hand on his arm, Rukia asked, "Are you sure? It might have been wishful thin – "

"No." Ichigo insisted. "It wasn't wishful thinking. It was Karin. I'm sure of it." He looked around at the uniforms of the caterers. "What was the name of the catering company again?"

…

_"Wow, you're here to stay. Great. I'll go get the champagne. And the arsenic." – The Principal_

_…_

_1 year ago – Karin_

_…_

Karin's brain felt foggy, somewhat detached from her other functions. Still, she made an effort to open her eyes.

The first face that came into view belonged to Kaien. Second face she saw was Ganju's. Third face she saw was Kuukaku's. All three Shiba siblings in one space. Rare.

"Heya." Is what she intended to say, but all she managed was a garbled, "Ryuh…"

The three exchanged looks.

"Looks like he's out of it."

"Well, he swallowed a bunch of liquidized sedatives. It's surprising he's still alive."

"Nah, the Haru I know wouldn't go down that easily."

"His body's still small though. Any guy with a weak constitution would have died after taking that dosage."

Karin wanted to protest that she was bigger than Kuukaku.

"Lucky Haru's not weak."

"He woke up sooner than we thought he would, though."

A fourth voice chimed in. "Has he woken up?"

The Shiba siblings all straightened. "Yes."

Soon enough, Juushirou's face appeared in Karin's line of vision.

Karin couldn't sit up, but she managed a weak grin. "Kaichou…" No matter how worried a face expression Juushirou had on, Karin just couldn't make out a,  _'Don't worry, I'm okay.'_ She just didn't have the strength to speak, much less lie.

Just as she had expected, Juushirou put his head in his hands. "This is all my fault. If I'd realized earlier – "

Kuukaku interrupted him. "It's not your fault, Kaichou. It's the Kurosakis' to blame– "

Kaien firmly said, "Innocent until proven guilty."

His siblings looked it him in disbelief. "It was at the Kurosakis' party. What more proof do we need?"

"Kurosaki Isshin's not as stupid as to poison a guest at his own party, where he'd be the first suspect."

"I dunno, that idiotic grin of his…"

Nobody recognized Karin's hacking cough as the laugh it was.

Juushirou said pacifyingly, "Kaien-kun's right. There's no reason for Kurosaki-Kaichou to do such a thing at his son's own engagement party."

Karin finally built up the strength to ask a question. "Did I… cause…?"

Kaien gave her a wry smile. "Don't worry. Rojuurou got you out of there before the guests noticed. Not before you gave Miyako and me a scare though." He scowled, but ruffled Karin's hair. "Good job kiddo."

"Thank you for saving me, Haru-kun." Juushirou gave Karin a gentle smile. "I should give you a pay raise."

The joke cracked a grin from Karin again. "Bonus, maybe?"

Juushirou looked thoughtful. "Actually, that's – "

The doors burst open.

"Ka – Haru!"

Since he'd taken leave from his workplace to come himself, of course Ganju would've called Renji. As Renji's face came into view, Karin almost smirked. Renji's worried face looked so endearing. Nevertheless, she gave him a warning look when it looked like he was going to stretch out a hand to stroke her cheek. Off limits in public.

Several hours later, Karin had regained enough strength to be helped home by Renji.

"Are you sure you'll be okay?" Miyako, still in her dress, asked worriedly.

"Yeah." Karin met Miyako's eyes. "At the party – " Miyako was the one who had requested to keep an eye out for Tsukishima, after all.

Miyako nodded. "We'll talk about it next week."  
Taken aback, Karin asked, "Next week?"

Looking like she was restraining from rolling her eyes, Miyako said in an overly patient voice, "Yes. You were poisoned, Haru, and it's a miracle you're alive. You're taking a week off. Period. Be thankful it's not a month."

"Finally, a sensible lady." Renji sighed. "Thank you for taking care of my workaholic friend." He nodded his thanks to Miyako before dragging Karin out of the building.

After pushing Karin into a cab, unloading her from it, carrying her onto an elevator, and dumping her onto the bed – all in deadly silence –Renji put his hands on his hips and stared Karin down.

Karin stared right back. After a moment, she informed him matter-of-factly, "I won't apologize for doing my job."

"No one's asking you to." Renji growled. "But can't you look at things from my view? The word 'worried' doesn't cut how I felt when I heard you'd been  _poisoned."_ His face crumpled."The thought of you never waking up…" Renji sagged onto the floor.

Face softening, Karin clambered over to him. She placed his head in her lap and stroked his long hair. "I won't ever die on you. I promise." It was an empty promise, but she made it anyway. It made  _her_  feel better.

The following week passed excruciatingly slowly.

With each passing day, Karin felt exponentially healthier. But 'better' applied only to her physical body; her mental state was another matter.

She felt restless. Every time she called, Kaien vaguely waved her off.

Furthermore, even though she'd been sick, she discovered that she'd gained flesh in a most unpleasant area.

She hadn't measured her bust since she'd started masquerading as a boy (there were no longer any tailors who measured for her, for one), but as she had an abundance of free time, she had time to notice her breasts were visibly bigger than when she'd last noticed them.

"Aren't they supposed to stop growing if they're restricted?" Karin complained as she set the chopsticks.

"I think they're fine. And I don't mind if they get bigger." Renji carried steaming bowls of noodles from behind the counter. He nearly spilled the soup while trying and failing to dodge Karin's punch.

Besides her inconvenient growth, Karin had received other news, too. Bad news.

Karin looked over a letter from the landlord, addressing the results of her disastrous attempt at cooking. Though she had dismantled all the fire alarms, it seemed that neighbors had noticed the smoke and reported the incident anyways. It was a very curt courtesy notice that they would have to leave by the end of the month.

Heaving a sigh, Karin tossed the letter down on the countertop. She couldn't let Renji find out about this. They had always argued over whom would be the first to get them kicked out, and she had snobbily assured Renji that it would  _not_  be her.

Having destroyed the letter (evidence that had proved her wrong), Karin began to search for new apartments, waiting for the right time to tactfully broach the subject.

After a few days of research, Karin dropped the subject like a bundle of dynamite out of nowhere. "Hey Renji. I think we should move out."

Renji sprayed out his coffee. Dripping, he asked, "Where'd that come from?"

Nonchalantly, Karin shrugged. "Just thought we should stay on the move. Not that it makes much of a difference."

Renji remarked, "Well, we do have enough money to move into a bigger apartment."

Face lighting up, Karin pulled out her laptop. "While you were at work, I looked up apartments. Not a studio like this. One with a real  _room._  Or  _rooms._ "

Renji frowned. "What would we need multiple rooms for?"

Karin said with straight face, "Oh, I don't know. Maybe if I don't feel like sleeping in the same bed as you? You snore up a real storm."

Shooting her an offended look, Renji said, "Well  _excuse_  me. And for your information,  _you_  snore too."

Dropping the straight face and elbowing Renji playfully, Karin pointed out interior pictures of an apartment. "But yeah, I thought this apartment looked nice."

Renji looked unimpressed. "*Azabu Gardens look better."

_[*Azabu Gardens: a luxury apartment complex.]_

Karin sat back and crossed her arms, huffing. "No shit, Sherlock. But Azabu is the filthiest wealthy neighborhood in Tokyo. And you forget that my father has a finger in almost every luxury name in Japan." Undeterred, she pointed out several other apartments, in nice, quiet districts. "What about here? Not too flashy."

"It doesn't matter, as long as you like it."

"Really now? Alright, but don't complain later."

"W – wait!"

"See, I knew it – "

"Well your taste is so boring – "

"And  _yours_  is too gaudy! Better neutral colors than neon – "

When Karin had finally returned from her forced leave, she reported at the usual time.

Karin stepped into the penthouse-turned-office, expecting all the other bodyguards to have arrived, but only Kaien, Miyako, and Soi Fong were there.

"Haru." Kaien looked grim.

When Karin saw his eyes, immediately all the restlessness and resentment she'd been feeling at her forced leave disappeared, replaced by a feeling of dread.

"…What… what's wrong? Where are the others?"

Kaien rubbed his brow. "Kaichou's ill."

So they were with him… Frowning Karin asked, "Sick? Like a cold, or – "

Soi Fong snorted. "And you said you've been mentoring him, Shiba?" Hands on hips, she turned to Karin. "Our Kaichou was born of a weak constitution. He is often ill, which is why he is not often seen in public." She cast Kaien a sour look. "I would have thought that Shiba would have seen it  _fit_  to tell you that."

Kaien ignored the jab. "Have you ever wondered why our Kaichou's hair is white?"

Karin hid a grimace; in fact, she hadn't; she had long since accepted white or silver as a hair color that occurred in people who weren't even old. Gin, Kensei, her boss… keeping a poker face, she lied, "Yeah, I suppose...?"

If Kaien saw through her lie, he chose to ignore it. "Kaichou is often prone to illnesses, and when his wife passed, he fell ill from grief and his hair became like that over the course of three days."

Though Karin was not usually a slow person, it took a moment for her to digest the information. "So…" Karin said slowly, "If he had taken that load of sedatives in the shaved ice…"

Miyako finished, "He would have died."

Karin knew the danger of the industry she had chosen. She'd known when she'd enrolled in The Academy. She'd known when she'd graduated. She'd known as she'd trained and tested for Ammo Co. She'd known when she tied a crimson tie around her neck for the first time. She'd known as she'd protected the Kaichou.

Well, her  _mind_  had known, at least.

Anger bubbled up within her, and Karin didn't even know why. "Why didn't you tell me before?" Karin directed this unreasonable surge of anger towards Kaien. "You didn't think it was important to tell me about Kaichou's health? Weren't  _you_ the one who told me that a bodyguard's job isn't just protecting their principal, but also keeping them  _safe_? So wasn't I supposed to  _know?_ "

Miyako came in between Karin and Kaien. "It's not like that, Haru. Kaien just wants you to learn – "

"Kaien should be able to make excuses for himself!" Karin snapped. "Shouldn't you,  _Lieutenant?"_

Karin expected Kaien to explode back in kind, but he took a deep breath and apologized. "You're right Haru. I'm sorry. My poor judgment ended up putting both you and Kaichou in danger."

At his easy apology, Karin deflated, her balloon of anger punctured by his maturity. Miyako put an understanding hand on her arm, but Karin shrugged it off.

After a hurt silence, Soi Fong said brusquely, "We should head to Kaichou's place."

Sullenly, Karin asked, "Do we go by subway or by bus?"

Soi Fong gave her a superior look. "We go by car."

Miyako said quietly, "You haven't worked in this position long, so it's natural you don't know."

There was an unsaid note hanging in the air, where Karin itched to say that Kaien should have told her.

As if reading her mind, Kaien exhaled noisily and spread his arms. "Alright. I'm open for questions. That good enough?"

Karin stared at him for a bit before asking, "…how many cars will we drive?"

"Just one."

Kaien began to walk to the elevator, and the others followed suite.

"How long does it take to get to Kaichou's place?"

"Ten minutes on a good day. Twenty with traffic."

"Where does Kaichou live?"

"Central Tokyo."

"What district?"

"Yoyogi."

"How secu – "

Kaien lost his patience. "I'll answer all your questions in the car."

But the car ride itself was quiet.  _Typical that I can't think of any questions the one time when Kaien is offering answers_. Karin thought bitterly as she looked out the window.

…

" _To be honest, I had a bad feeling about going to your engagement party. I was right too… I ended up getting poisoned." – Kurosaki Karin_

…

_1 year ago – Ichigo_

…

"Zenmai? The Flowering Fern?"

Ichigo shuffled through the catering company's papers. Rukia penciled out what looked like an amorphous blob on her sketchpad. "You asked for the name." Seeming to know that her fiancé was squinting at the papers' fine print, Rukia added, "You can stare at it all you like. Zenmai doesn't have any record of hiring anybody named Kurosaki Karin. I checked."

Still eyeing the papers, Ichigo ruffled his hair distractedly. "Of course she wouldn't use that name… If she'd used her real name, then Oyaji would have found her long ago."

Putting her pencil down, Rukia asked quietly, "Have you ever considered that she's happier this way?"

After a moment of silence, Ichigo said, "I have to know. What the last straw was. Why she made the final decision to leave." Bitterness seeped into his voice. "Why Yuzu and I weren't enough to bear through the rough patches."

Rukia stood up and placed a hand on Ichigo's shoulder. "We'll find her. We'll tear through the entire sign-in list if we have to, but we'll find her."

…

" _Don't tell me you've never even gotten it on with a girl… Am I going to have to take you to a strip club with me?" – The Principal_

…

_1 year ago – Karin_

…

Much like how the Ammo Co. company headquarters compared with Kurosaki Armament headquarters, the mansion belonging to the president of Ammo Co. was less grandios than the Kurosaki mansion. Still, Karin thought as she surreptitiously looked around at the mansion, it reminded her of simpler times. Back when she had been a girl. No secrets, nothing to hide. But she was happier now, she decided. She was free. Relatively.

An elevator took them to the fifth floor and Karin trooped after her peers into a bedroom.

Karin's Kaichou lay bedridden, but he mustered a smile when he saw her.

"It's good to see you well, Haru-kun."

Unfortunately, Karin couldn't say the same for her Kaichou; Juushirou himself looked very ill, long silver hair damp with sweat. Looking at her Kaichou, Karin couldn't understand why her father was convinced that such a gentle, frail man would have schemed to murder her mother. But then again, she didn't know why anyone would want to assassinate this man either. What threat did he pose? Was it because he held the title of 'Kaichou' of an arms company?

That day was spent nursing Juushirou, which practically nothing to do. Karin felt like she was back in her first year of work again. The only work the bodyguards had to do was force Juushirou to stay in bed. Karin thought that eight people to dote on one sick person was a bit excessive, but when it came to her shift, staring at his peacefully sleeping face, she understood why Juushirou evoked such loyalty in his subordinates.

As she gazed at an ill man who was of an age with her father, and Her thoughts momentarily wandered to how Beardy was doing, before immediately dismissing the thought.  _'Who am I kidding? Beardy hasn't caught a cold in his life.'_

"…Haru-kun?"

At once, Karin floating mind snapped to attention. "Kaichou?"

"I'm sorry. You didn't become an executive protector to watch over a sick old man, did you?"

Admittedly, Karin hadn't, but she wasn't about to tell her fragile employer that. "Don't say that, Kaichou. It's our job to protect you."

It took another week for Juushirou to recover, and Karin was glad to be out of the stifling mansion that reminded her a bit too much of childhood.

…

_"No matter what trick in the book you use, I will not turn and run to Kaichou, tail between my legs. I don't care what you do during the evenings, but during the daytime, you are my responsibility, Young Master." – 'Akimoto Haru'_

_…_

_6 months ago – The Principal_

_…_

He woke up with a pounding headache, as he had for the past half year. He shifted and felt something odd; his arms were restrained.

"K..ts..."

His voice would not sound. He tried again. "Gramps..."

"You're awake. I trust you know what you did this time?"

His teal eyes glared venomously at his grandfather.

"Glaring at me like that will do you no good. This is the last time I will extend my efforts to keep you sober." Yamamoto's gravelly voice sounded irritated his ears.

Nevertheless, he snickered. "So... if I escape and get piss drunk again, you'll disown me? Sounds like a good deal."

Yamamoto turned his back on his grandson.  _'Looks like you get your wish, Juushirou...'_

…

…

 **A/N:**  I'M SO SORRY. FORGIVE ME. T_T And the chapter is short...


	23. The Bodyguard Part III Mission 1

Disclaimer: Bleach belongs to Kubo Tite

…

**The Bodyguard**

Part III Mission 1

…

" _Of all the pain-in-the-ass bodyguards, you have got to be the worst. Now stop fighting me and let me see your wound." – The Principal_

…

_6 months ago – Kurosaki Karin_

…

"I heard he's a nightmare."

"I wonder who's next."

That day, The Force was abuzz with the now weekly – if not shorter – occurrence concerning a certain heir to the Ammo Co.

As usual, Karin ignored the murmurs. It didn't concern her. But as she joined Kaien, the subject was unavoidable.

"Another one bites the dust, eh?" His mouth was twisted up into a humorless grin. His status as lieutenant meant that he had known and recruited almost every one of the "victims."

Trying to keep the mood light, Karin shrugged nonchalantly. "What's the count now?"

"38 and counting."

Phew. The metaphorical "death" toll was high. Frowning, Karin asked, "You really think he's all that bad?"

An answer came from behind her. "I've met him, and normally I'd say that rumors tend to exaggerate. But this time…" Miyako grimaced.

Karin raised her brows. If even sweet tempered Miyako was saying that…

"You're one lucky bastard, Haru. I can't believe you've managed to avoid him all this time." Kaien commented, shaking his head.

The word 'avoid' wasn't exactly true as it hadn't been intentional, but Karin had seen neither hide nor hair of the heir after graduating from The Academy, and if rumor was right, she wanted to keep it that way.

After the heir to Ammo Co. had been shipped over from Kyoto, bodyguard after bodyguard had been assigned to him. But the headache of an heir was not only physically strong but ridiculously headstrong as well. He wanted nothing more to be left to his own devices. With which Karin could empathize.

It was just his rumored methods of getting rid of his bodyguards that Karin disapproved of.

"I feel sorry for whomever gets the glory of taking care of him next." Karin said as the glass doors slid open for them to join the others.

Kaien laughed and joked, "Who says it can't be you?"

Karin made a face. "Don't even joke about that."

"Akimoto." Karin looked at Soi Fong, who was beckoning to her. Rather surprised that Soi Fong would call her out, Karin silently followed the petite woman further into the office.

But the woman just deposited her there, leaving Karin between two sets of double glass doors. Confused, Karin looked around and spotted Juushirou waving at her.

Karin now stood in front of Juushirou, and all she could think was that it would be a terrible twist of irony if Kaien's jest came true.

"I'm at my wit's end with him. You've probably heard the rumors, and they're most likely accurate, too. I just – "

Managing to keep the apprehension off of her face, Karin hoped to the dear Lord that the one-sided discussion wasn't headed where she thought it was. The black necktie that sat between them did not help.

" – You'll get a promotion and a raise… Will you take the job?"

So much for her hopes…

"He's a handful, but you're the nearest to his age; he might let his guard down…"

Looking into Juushirou's earnest face, Karin realized he was begging. He was at the end of his rope with his son, and she was his last resort. In what she would later judge as a terrible mistake, she weakened and said, "Of course I will accept the job."

Immediately, Juushirou's face relaxed, and he slumped back in his chair with relief. Massaging his temples, he sighed, "Thank you, Haru-kun. You have no idea how grateful I am right now." His face gained a hint of mirth as he added, "Now I can rest in peace."

It took some time for Karin to summon saliva to her dry mouth in order to speak properly. "My pleasure, Kaichou."  _I'm going to regret this…_

Swiveling his chair towards the window, Juushirou said quietly, "I doubt you'll say that when you meet him."

Karin pretended she hadn't heard the last part. "…When do I start?"

Turning to look at her, Juushirou asked, "Would tomorrow be too soon?"

 _Yes,_ Karin thought even as her traitorous mouth formed the words, "No, sir."

Curious faces greeted an ashen Karin as she stepped out of the office, the black tie she'd been bribed with dangling from her hand much like a dead rat.

Miyako was the first to congratulate her. "Looks like you got promoted! Congratulations!"

Crossing her arms, Tatsuki added, "About time. The tie came half a year too late, if you ask me. You deserved it when you got poisoned instead of Kaichou."

Asuka asked, "Why now though?"

Everyone stared at Karin, expecting an explanation.

"…I won't be protecting Kaichou anymore." Seeing puzzled expressions, Karin clarified, "I'll be protecting his son."

After a stunned silence, Karin shot Kaien a sullen look. "Did you know?"

Kaien raised both hands in an innocent gesture. "Naw man, that was just a joke. I didn't actually think that Kaichou would reassign you to the biggest headache in Ammo Co."

Tatsuki clapped Karin on the shoulder. "Good luck. Give him a run for his money."

Ayasegawa nodded sagely and predicted, "You'll last the longest."

At the end of the day, Kaien took Karin aside. "Are you sure you're okay?"

Karin shrugged. "And if I'm not? What's the point of asking?"

Kaien looked at her earnestly. "I  _can_  get you out of this. Trust me, Haru. If you're not comfortable with this…"

Ruffling her hair, Karin absently realized she was due a haircut. "When I told Kaichou I would, he looked so relieved. I can't betray his hopes like that."

Kaien wore a pained expression. "I just don't want to see you lose to  _him._  Promise me you won't let him break your spirit."

Snorting softly, Karin said, "Since when has anybody been able to break my spirit?"

Therefore later, Renji came home to a very moody Karin.

"'M back."

"You're back." Karin repeated in monotone.

Renji collapsed onto a bright orange pouf, frowning at her greeting. "Something wrong?"

She robotically held out the black tie. "…I got promoted."

Renji commented, "Now I'm confused. Usually you'd be jumping for joy. It's my job to be unhappy about your promotions."

Karin scowled. "Usually. Except this time my principal is our esteemed senpai, the  _heir of Ammo Co_."

" _What?_ "

"Yeah, he  _encouraged_  an early retirement for 38 of us. And now I'm next."

Immediately, Renji's expression brightened. "Why don't you take advantage of it then?"

Karin raised an eyebrow. "Excuse me?"

Struggling not to show his excitement, Renji shrugged. "It's a good chance to just pull out of the protective industry altogether. Besides, he graduated top of his class, he's probably stronger than you – " Under Karin's glower, he hastily tacked on, "I mean, no offense – "

"None. Taken." Even though she knew it was true, obviously Karin had found Renji's suggestion immensely offensive, as she cheerfully kicked Renji out onto the couch before they went to sleep.

But the memory of scornful blue eyes kept her awake that night.

The next day, Karin stood at attention in Juushirou's office, preparing herself to meet her new principal. She had been prepped and given his info, and what to prioritize. Follow his activities, use her judgement, and intervene when deemed necessary. Overlook his studies if possible. And safety above all.

Sounded easy.

If it were anyone else.

Karin loosened her new black tie slightly; it felt like it was tightening around her neck by the minute.

Sensing Karin's trepidation, Juushirou said gently, "There's no need to be nervous. He was a good child."

Key word:  _was_.

As if he had read her mind, Juushirou sighed and shook his head. "But in his current state, he  _is_  pitiable." After a moment of thought, he added, "And a bit wayward."

_Wayward._

Such a severe understatement. Karin could have used her stoic mask now to bluff her way to victory in the World Poker Championship.

Both employer and bodyguard waited, Juushirou with a resigned face and Karin with baited breath. Then Karin saw the first set of automatic doors open. A figure slowly neared the second set of sliding glass doors.

"Aaand, here comes the protagonist – or the anti-hero, if you will." Juushirou murmured.

Then the set of glass doors slid open. Karin's eyes took the young man in, and immediately agreed that he needed a keeper.

He was nothing like what she'd seen before at The Academy. Back at The Academy, he'd been confident, sure of himself, who he was.

Now, his hair was no longer black. It was a bright blue that matched his eyes.

His shirt was rumpled and messily buttoned, his hair ruffled as if he had only just woken up, and he had shadows under his teal eyes, as if constantly haunted by something.

He was a complete wreck.

"The two of you attended the same school, I believe? Haru-kun, this is my son. He goes by…" there was a slight hesitation. "…Grimmjow."

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yes, this chapter is abnormally short. But there's the reveal of the Principal's identity. Or is there?


	24. The Bodyguard Part III Mission 2

Disclaimer: Bleach belongs to Kubo Tite.

…

**The Bodyguard**

Part III Mission 2

…

_"He's dead. Because of me. And this may be selfish, but I don't want anybody else to die for the same worthless cause, and that includes even you, Young Master." – 'Akimoto Haru'_

…

_6 months ago – Grimmjow_

…

Grimmjow gazed at Juushirou with hard eyes. He unceremoniously plopped himself down on the couch without even greeting his father.

"Grimmjow, this is Akimoto Haru-kun, who will be your new bodyguard."

Grimmjow's blue eyes narrowed, a dangerous aura literally radiating from him. "I'm not so  _decrepit_ as to need a…" he shot a venomous look at his new bodyguard, "…a  _kid_ to take care of me. In fact, as I've been trying to tell you for the past 6 months, I'm perfectly capable of taking care of myself."

Juushirou sighed wearily. "No. You may be able to  _fight_ for yourself, but that is not the same as being able to  _take care_  of yourself." He turned and stared out the window stretching across the wall, at the whole cityscape visible to them. "When I assign a bodyguard to you, you will accept it. You are not yet of emancipation age."

Gritting his teeth, Grimmjow smashed his fist against the table, which creaked ominously upon the stress of the impact.

The kid's brown eyes held only contempt, as if seeing exactly what they expected.

A wreck.

Clearing his throat, Juushirou stood up. "I suppose I should let you two get acquainted." He gave Grimmjow a warning look. Grimmjow snorted. Juushirou's stern look didn't even hold a candle to *Yama-jii's withering glares.

_[Yama-jii = Yamamoto + less respectful way to say grandfather]_

So he was alone with his new bodyguard.

His arms crossed, he shrewdly examined the man, or rather, the kid. The kid, in turn, stared neutrally back.

Over the past six months with 38 different bodyguards, Grimmjow knew that the first ten minutes alone dictated the dynamics of what he intended to be a short master-servant relationship. So he spent the first five minutes in the pretense of ignoring his new bodyguard, while in fact surveying him through his eyelashes.

Taking in his new 'bodyguard's' narrow shoulders, the slenderness of his body… His father couldn't possibly expect this scrawny, underfed  _kid_ to protect him. If anything,  _he_  would have to protect the fragile-looking 'bodyguard.'

About five minutes had passed. Now it was time to establish his dominance. Uncrossing his arms, Grimmjow beckoned to his 'bodyguard.' He would do a bit of a test, to see if he was even worthy of his attention… to annoy, that is.

Hesitating almost imperceptibly, the kid complied, stepping unknowingly into the radius of his range of attack.

He immediately made to deadlock the kid, in order to intimidate him and possibly strangle him unconscious, but the kid realized this and moved at lightning speed to avoid it.

Grimmjow narrowed his eyes; the kid was better than he had thought. Maybe it was his small stature that made him so lithe.  _'But it's too early to think it's over.'_

Arranging his hand into bear claw position, he lunged for the kid's throat this time. Again, the kid thwarted him, blocking with an open palm and parrying with a bear claw of his own.

After a wary moment, the kid sighed and muttered, "I guess the others were right…" He withdrew his hand.

Unlike what he would have usually done when the enemy let his guard down, Grimmjow didn't strike again and frowned instead. By now, all other bodyguards would have been too shocked to respond, much less say anything. Suspiciously, he asked, "The others…? What do you mean, kid?"

Straightening his shoulders, the kid said, "My name, as I distinctly remember Kaichou telling you, is Akimoto Haru." The kid's – no,  _Haru's_  – melodic voice was tinged with irony.

This was not going as planned. Grimmjow needed to get the upper hand. "You haven't answered my question,  _Haru._ "

"I request that you use my surname,  _Young Master._ " Again, the melodic voice held the slightest bit of sarcasm on the last two words.

Rankled, Grimmjow bared his teeth and snarled, "Don't. Call. Me. Young. Master."

"Then we have reached an agreement on how to address each other." The boy's voice was still steady.

Too late, Grimmjow realized that with this kid, the first to lose his temper was the loser.

_I'll make you pay for this._  Grimmjow forced a grin, feigning ignorance. "What agreement?  _Haru?_ "

His grin turned into one of triumph when he saw the first signs of a temper rise in the kid's eyes.

…

_"…How are you doing? Tell me in full detail. That's an order." – Grimmjow_

…

_6 months ago – Karin_

…

Karin kept a careful eye on her new principal on their way out of headquarters. It was her first time guarding someone solo. And it was someone she knew had been stronger than her some years ago.

She had been caught off guard when he had attacked her with the bear claw. But his movements had become duller, slower. He had not kept his skills sharp.

But he was still sly, she realized; he had tried to establish his power over her and it had taken all her will power to refrain from losing her temper during their exchange. For some reason, Grimmjow irked her to no end. He had everything; a loving and supportive father, a right to inherit the company; what was he so angry about? What made him so rebellious?

Though his combat skills had visibly deteriorated, Karin had to admit that Grimmjow was still remarkably energetic.

First he returned to the mansion to "freshen up."

Karin learned the hard way that she couldn't ever let her guard down. She waited outside while her principal took a shower, and it was only until she heard a faint scraping sound that she realized that Grimmjow was escaping through the bathroom window.

Using a curse that she was glad that nobody else was there to hear, she turned off the showerhead and exited through the window as well.

His mistake was to head for the garage to get a car. No matter that men generally ran faster than women, this was a tactical error. Karin sprinted to the only place where cars could exit from the mansion. The car came swerving from around the corner, and Karin grit her teeth.  _Please, let me make it…_ She jumped.

The car came to a screeching halt as Karin landed on the hood with a thump.

Her eyes met the furious driver's, who opened the car door and stepped out.

"Are you fucking crazy?" Karin jumped off the car and crossed her arms. Grimmjow stared at the dented hood.

Fury glinting in his cyan eyes, he said, "What are going to do about the car?"

"The cost of the hood can be subtracted from my pay. I believe you and I have something else to discuss."

Grimmjow immediately feigned innocence. "Why, I thought I'd save you the trouble of watching me go on a date,  _Haru_."

Karin twitched at the way Grimmjow addressed her.  _Two can play at this game._  She smiled. "It's no trouble at all. Shall we get another car,  _Young Master?_ "

Grimmjow's face hardened and he snapped, "Don't call me young master." But he allowed Karin to drive the dented car back into garage.

To Karin's surprise, Grimmjow didn't protest when she silently climbed into the electric blue Jaguar (A/N: haha…ha…), his new car of choice.

Of course, she should have expected him to have something else up his sleeve. Karin didn't think she had motion sickness, but apparently she was wrong. Her heart rose up to her throat every time he took a sharp turn. When the car finally came to a stop, it took Karin all her willpower not to scramble out of the car and hurl. As it was, she exited the car a little too quickly, and Grimmjow smirked knowingly. She'd seen her life flash before her eyes more than once during the car ride, and she swore that she would never let her principal drive her again. What was he, a Tokyo drifter?

When Grimmjow took out his cellphone and started dialing a number, Karin chanced a look at her watch and mentally groaned. 11 AM. 10 hours left.

Though she tried to refrain from counting the seconds, it was an agonizing 2 minutes and 36 seconds later that a leggy bleach blonde approached them. Karin automatically eyeballed the newcomer for any threat, but her tight dress left little to imagination, much less any space to hide a weapon.

She greeted Grimmjow with a deep kiss, which he reciprocated, along with a gratuitous squeeze of what Karin firmly thought of with the medical terminology 'gluteus maximus.'

Pulling away, the woman glanced at Karin with interest. "New guard?"

Grimmjow shrugged. "For now, I guess."

Lips curving into a smile, the Grimmjow's lady friend stepped up to Karin coyly. Placing a hand on Karin's tightly corseted chest, she purred, "I wouldn't mind a  _ménage à trois_  with this one."

Karin was somewhat familiar with French, but this phrase was new to her.  _Household of three? What the…?_

Grimmjow observed the scene coolly. "I would rather die than have a threesomewith another man."

Karin reddened.  _'Likewise._ _'_ He turned his back on them and began to walk away. Pouting, the woman bounced after him. "Grimm-san~"

The next 4 hours were spent going on a shopping spree for the lady friend. Apparently the word 'moderation' was not in Grimmjow's dictionary. Chanel bags, Tiffany jewelry, Dior perfume, any little thing she 'ooh'd or 'ah'd at, he flippantly got her. He also bought anything she chose for him.

As she surveyed the couple bedecked in new clothes taking a lunch break from shopping, Karin had the sneaking suspicion that Grimmjow's spending habits were the reason that Juushirou wasn't as well off as he could be, despite being the head of Ammo Co.

Watching them eat, Karin became grumpy; she was hungry too. Grimmjow obviously didn't intend on willingly giving her a break, and if she went off to buy something, he would probably run away. Nevermind she was entitled to her hour meal breaks. But she somehow knew that if she complained, that Grimmjow would have an excuse to get rid of her. Tomorrow, Karin resolved to eat a hearty breakfast and bring a riceball or some other light snack.

After the shopping spree from hell, Karin was mentally exhausted. She didn't like shopping and even after graduating, had avoided it at all costs; she preferred shopping online for multiple reasons, her disguised gender being a very prevalent one.

Before climbing into the Jaguar again, Karin politely offered to drive, half-expecting to be refused. But to her surprise, Grimmjow simply sighed and tossed her the keys. Apparently he preferred to spend quality time with his girlfriend to torturing her. That was sweet. Karin almost rethought her opinion of him, when she caught the frosty look he gave her in the rearview mirror. Right. This was only the first day. And it was far from over.

As soon as she turned on the ignition, Grimmjow initiated a make-out session, which apparently first surprised his girlfriend.

"Grimm – " he kissed her, " – san – " she spoke in between kisses. "You're so – mm – eager today – "  _Maybe not as sweet as I thought._

"Mm… Give me…" Karin pressed on the accelerator when she thought she felt the car rocking. " – more – "

She wanted to cover her eyes and ears when the moaning and panting began. But she was driving a car. Which now had steamy windows due to the heat that was being generated inside. Karin loosened her tie, not sure if she was flushed from the heat or from embarrassment. It occurred to her that this was why Grimmjow had agreed to her driving.

Karin tried ignoring the carnal show Grimmjow was putting on, but even she couldn't block out the last feminine scream of pleasure. She just hoped to whatever deity was present that she didn't have to clean up the… aftermath. That was  _definitely_  not part of her job description. She wondered how Renji would have reacted in her shoes. She couldn't really imagine him able to ignore the ruckus and just drive on.

There were zipping sounds and Grimmjow said, "I'm hungry. Any preferences, Kiriko?"

The 'girlfriend' immediately got offended. "For the last time, it's Naoko!"

"I'm sorry, Naoko. It was a slip of the tongue." Grimmjow's apology sounded fake, even to Karin, who was trying her best tune out their dialogue. "Besides, I got the 'ko' part right."

_'So comforting.'_ Karin thought sarcastically.

"Tell me once and for all, Grimm-san." Naoko sounded tearful. "Am I really the only one you're seeing?"

Rolling his eyes as if he couldn't believe she was even asking that question, Grimmjow answered, "Of course not. Girls are a dime a dozen."

Karin let out a snort, causing both parties to look at her. Whoops. She hastily disguised it as a cough.

After demanding that she be taken home, the rest of the car ride was spent in chilly silence. When Naoko finally exited the car, she slammed the car door behind her with such force that the car shook.

Karin glanced at her watch. 3:48 pm. 5 hours and 12 minutes to go. The day was just a little over half finished. So this was what every day would be like from now on? The idea made her nearly want to go along with Renji's suggestion that she use this as an opportunity to quit. Maybe this time she had bitten off more than she could chew. With these thoughts swirling around in her head, she absently drove back to the mansion. But a voice interrupted her thoughts.

"Stop."

Puzzled, Karin pulled over to the side. What did her principal want in the Shinjuku area? When Grimmjow got out of the car, she too made to open the door. He rolled a cyan eye over to her.

"Stay here. That's an order." He slammed the door.

Karin sat back down. But she had no intention of following Grimmjow's orders. And her danger antenna was going haywire. She ran after him as soon as he turned a corner. She was somewhat thankful that his blue hair was easy to spot. She followed the bobbing blue hair for two blocks, and it turned into an alleyway. Karin's eyes narrowed as she increased the distance between them in order to stay undetected.

He stopped, took out and glanced down at his phone. Pocketing his phone once more he took out an envelope, twirling it between his fingers while he waited.

What could he possibly gain from a dirty alleyway like this? As Karin pondered this, a man who smelled like burnt plastic came walking from right behind her, turning into the same alleyway that Grimmjow had.

It couldn't be coincidence. But Karin was now caught in a dilemma; she had no idea whether the man most probably meeting with Grimmjow had noticed her or not. She didn't exactly blend in with her work suit in the slums of Shinjuku. She beat a hasty retreat back to the car before she was caught and sat there for another ten minutes. She had no idea what gave her the thought that her unruly principal would actually return; even earlier that day, he had attempted to escape. She must have been crazy. Come the next ten minutes, she was beginning to regret leaving Grimmjow to his own devices.

A flash of sky blue caught her eye.

Karin opened the car door for her principal.

"Hey, what's up kid?" Grimmjow gave her a wide grin. "Bet you thought I'd never come back. You mind if I drive?"

Something was definitely off. Grimmjow was acting almost… friendly. And then he'd  _asked_  for her  _permission_ to drive. Politely, at least, in his standards.

It was all so weird that she'd silently handed over the keys to him. Though the drive back home was even worse than the drive out, he was somehow more  _bearable_  and wore a grin more often than not.

That attitude lasted for all of an hour, during which he attempted to climb the chandelier, peeled a whole box of satsumas without eating a single one, and plunk away at an out-of-tune guitar, and demanded that Karin stand still for dart target practice.

As soon as Karin had gotten used to it, Grimmjow was back to his sour and surly self. His irritation was back in full swing by the time Karin reminded him of his homework.

"You're just a guard dog!" He hissed at Karin, who crossed her arms and stared straight into his eyes.

"…And I will continue to stand guard over you while you do your assignments."  _His pupils are dilated_ , she noted. She absently remembered she had read somewhere that pupils contracted when the person was angry, but then again, she could have gotten it the other way around.

They spent a good half hour silently warring over the homework when Grimmjow finally stood up. "I'm done for today." Karin gave a scornful glance at the woefully blank homework set. But she had kept him sitting at a desk for thirty minutes, even so. That was a start.

But she pushed him aside when he headed towards the driver's seat of the Jaguar again. "Where would you like to go, Young Master?" Grimmjow crossed his arms at the displeasure of being denied the freedom to drive for the second time that day.

"Kabukicho."

A red-light district.

So  _that's_ how he spent his evenings. Already compiling a list of possible activities in her head and fighting back a sigh of dread, Karin put her hands on the steering wheel.

When her shift was over, Grimmjow was only a quarter drunk and showed no signs of slowing. Keeping an eye on him from the back of the pub, Karin dialed the number she'd been provided when she'd received her principal's information.

"Hello? This is Akimoto, and the young master is right now at – "

_"Bar X, right?"_

_'I wonder if they know because of GPS of if this is his go-to place…'_ Karin thought wryly before answering, "Yes. I'll wait here."

It was past 9:30 PM when Karin collapsed onto the studio couch.

"Oi. Karin, you okay?"

"Would you believe me if I said I was?"

Plopping down on the couch beside Karin, Renji gruffly said, "Hell no." Unlike his voice, Renji's movements were gentle as he leaned Karin's head against his shoulder.

Karin sighed as she snuggled into the crook of his neck. After a moment of comfortable silence, she asked him, "Aren't you going to ask how my day went?"

"If you'd wanted to tell me, then you would've by now." Renji glanced down at her. "So no. Even though I'm itching to know."

That elicited a laugh from Karin. "You'll be happy to know I've built up enough endurance to shop half a day."

"Man, that's not fair. You never go shopping with me. So you won't go shopping unless you're paid to." Renji complained. "But 'half a day,' you say… Since you brought it up first, what did you do for the other half?"

Recalling her principal's odd behavior she'd tailed him to an alleyway, Karin paused. She decided not to bring it up. "I just watched him not doing his homework." Which was partially true.

Renji gave her a skeptical look. "For half a day?" He shook his head in disbelief. To take Renji's mind off of the subject, Karin climbed up onto Renji's lap, smirking slyly. "And you wouldn't believe the places where people can…" she bit her lip seductively. "…get down."

Renji raised an eyebrow. "Oh?"

Placing her hands on Renji's chest, Karin pushed his back onto the couch. "Pretend that this couch is the backseat of a car…" She leaned into Renji's ear and whispered softly. "…it's steaming hot…" She slipped a hand under Renji's shirt and ran her fingers over his skin. "…we're rushing down a highway… there's barely any room to move, so  _every part of our bodies_  rub against each other." She demonstrated, molding her body against his.

Renji growled and brought her lips crashing down on his and Karin smirked. The principal did have his uses.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> meh. This chapter is a bit raunchy for my taste. But oh well, just wanted to show Grimmjow's depravity.
> 
> Character Profiles (haha, thought these were gone, didn't you?)
> 
> Name: Grimmjow  
> Age: 20 years  
> Height: 6'1.2"/186cm (Status: fully grown)  
> Favorite food: almost everything when drunk  
> Least favorite food: almost everything when sober  
> Favorite game: billiards and poker
> 
> Name: Kurosaki Karin  
> Age: 17 years  
> Height: 5'8"/172.72cm (Status: still growing)  
> Bust/Waist/Hip measurements: Not-known-but-about 32" when-not-bound/27"/35"
> 
> Name: Abarai Renji  
> Age: 19 years  
> Height: 6'1"/183cm (Status: still growing)


End file.
